Handbook of the_soviet_union-american_russian_chamber_of_commerce-1935-636pgs-sov-pol_eco

The American-Russian Chamber of CommerceDIRECTORS

HENRY S . BEALPres., Sullivan Machinery Co.

S. R. BERTRONBertron, Griscom & Co ., Inc .

ROBERT F. BLACKPres., The White Motor Co.GEORGE A. BRYANT, Jr .

Exec. Vice Pres ., The Austin Co .LOUIS CONNICK

Simpson, Thacher & BartlettHUGH L. COOPER

Pres., Hugh L . Cooper & Co ., Inc .STUART M. CROCKER

V. Pres ., Int'l Gen . Electric Co .WILLIAM C. DICKERMAN

Pres., American Locomotive Co .JOHN DUFFY

V. Pres., Lehigh Valley R. R. Co .A. C. DUTTON

Pres ., A . C. Dutton Lumber Corp .CHARLES EDISON

Pres., Thomas A . Edison, Inc .HERBERT F. EGGERT

V. Pres., Marsh & McLennan, Inc .E. A. EMERSON

Pres., The Armco Int'l Corp .RALPH E. FLANDERS

Pres., Jones & Lamson Machine Co .HORACE C. FLANIGAN

V. Pres., Manufacturers Trust Co .ALEX. GUMBERG

CHARLES J. HARDYPres., American Car & Foundry Co.

J . F. HARTLIEBV. Pres., Continental Can Co., Inc .

GEORGE H. HOUSTONPres., Baldwin Locomotive Works

H. ARNOLD JACKSONPres., Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co .

W. W. LANCASTERShearman & SterlingSAM A. LEWISOHN

Adolph Lewisohn & Sons

261 Fifth Avenue

OFFICERSREEVE SCHLEY

President

WILLIAM C. DICKERMANVice President

WHITNEY N. SEYMOURSecretary-Treasurer

PAUL MACKALLV. Pres., Bethlehem Steel Co .W. LEDYARD MITCHELL

Chairman of the Board,Chrysler Export CorporationVICTOR I. MONTENYOHL

Pres ., Int'l B . F. Goodrich Corp .A. V. MOORE

Pres., Moore & McCormack Co., Inc .THOMAS A. MORGAN

Pres., Curtiss-Wright CorporationGEORGE P. OSWALD

V. Pres ., George E. Warren Corp .J. H. RAND. Jr.

Chairman, Board of DirectorsRemington Rand, Inc .

RICHARD B. SCANDRETT, Jr .Scandrett. Tuttle & Chalaire

REEVE SCHLEYV. Pres ., The Chase National Bank

H. F. SHEETSV. Pres., Socony-Vacuum Corp .

FREDERICK P. SMALLPres., American Express Co.

CHARLES E. STUARTPres., Stuart, James & Cooke, Inc .

ALFRED H. SWAYNEV. Pres., General Motors Corp .

J . T. TIERNEYPres., The Koppers Company

PHILIP D. WAGONERPres., Underwood Elliott Fisher Co .

ALLEN WARDWELLDavis, Polk, Wardwell, Gardiner

& ReedTHOMAS J. WATSON

Pres ., Int'l Business Machines Corp .W. A. WINTERBOTTOM

V. Pres. & General Manager,R. C . A. Communications, Inc .

JOHN C. KLEINAssistant Treasurer

LOUIS E. BROWNEExecutive Secretary

New York, N. Y

HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION i

Travel in theSOVIET UNION

For business or pleasure, travel in the Soviet Unionis made easy and comfortable through the services ofINTOURIST, State Travel Company, which maintainshotels staffed by experienced managers in all importantcities of the U .S.S.R .

If you go for business, avail yourself of Intouristservice which provides hotels, meals, car service andinterpreters. If for pleasure, thirty-odd tours are listedon a basic daily rate which includes transportation .They cover all the most interesting cities, resorts andtourist centers in the Union. Rates on the Trans-Siberian Express have been reduced fifty per cent fortransit passengers to and from the Far East. Ten daysfrom Moscow to Vladivostok .

Write for information and Booklets to Dept . A .

INTOURIST, Inc.U. S. Representatives of the

TRAVEL COMPANY OF THE U .S.S.R .545 Fifth Avenue, New York

ll HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

INDUSTRIALRUSSIA

Russia is seething with industrial activity, the kind ofoperations to fascinate and interest American manufac-turers and business men . It is worth while, either as acomplete trip, or as a part of your European itinerary,to see Russia encompassing in a decade, a century's in-dustrial progress. How to make the journey is describedin "See Russia in 1935," a new book which will be sentto you upon request, issued by the American Express,Russian Division .

The American Express maintains in each of its officescomplete information relating to travel to the SovietUnion and the neighboring countries . From time to timetours for industrial and business leaders are organizedfor intensive first-hand study of the Soviet activities asthey progress . Your inquiries, either in regard to a groupmovement or individual trips, will be welcomed .

Throughout the U .S .S .R. the American Express Travel-ers Cheques are freely accepted, and in the principalcities can be exchanged for United States Dollars .

AMERICAN EXPRESSTRAVEL SERVICE

65 BROADWAY,

NEW YORK CITY

HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION 111

TODAY'S CENTER* Stop at the heart of importantsocial and business New York . . .The Waldorf-Astoria. Just a fewsteps from Fifth Avenue shops,art galleries, clubs . . . three min-utes from Grand Central . . . fif-teen minutes from Wall Street .

THE WALDORF-ASTORIAPARK AVENUE . 49TH T O 50TH - NEW Y O R K

GETTING AN INSIDE VIEW OF SOVIET RUSSIA

The Open Roadhelps you penetrate beneath the surface. Throughlong-established connections with Soviet institutionsand through its own independent representation inMoscow, it enables you to meet people . . . affordsmore than ordinary tourist services . Inquiringtravelers are invited to consult regarding theirplans . . . either for group tours or individualarrangements . . . without obligation or expense .

THE OPEN ROAD8 West 40th StreetNEW YORK, N. Y.

Cooperating With Intourist

iv

HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

DIRECT T OU.S.S.R.Direct Sailings Between

PHILADELPHIA and NEW YORK

and

LENINGRAD(via Scandinavian Ports)

Fast Passenger-Mail and Freight Service - Alloutside rooms with baths or showers - ExcellentCuisine - Courteous Service

Deck SportsSwimming Pool

Excellent Facilities for the carrying of all freight

commodities including refrigerator cargo .

SHIPPING AGENTS FOR AMTORG IN THE U . S. A.

AMERICAN SCANTIC LINEMOORE & McCORMACK CO., Inc .

General Agents

5 BROADWAY

NEW YORK, N. Y.

Dlgby 4-6700

HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION V

FOR COMPLETE INFORMATIONON THE SUBJECT OF

TRAVEL TE SOVIET UNIONSUCH AS

Visas, Hotel Accommodations, Steamship,Railroad and Aeroplane Fares,

CONSULT

UNION TOURSIncorporated

261 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY

AUTHORIZED AGENCY FOR ALL STEAMSHIP LINES ANDINTOURIST SERVICES

CONDUCTED t0 SOVIET RUSSIA$202.75 up

A memorable vacation-See the New Russia! VisitLeningrad, Moscow, Kharkov, Kiev, Volga River,Crimea, Caucasus .

40Mediterranean Cruises, domestic tours and cruisessuch as to Bermuda, Havana, West Indies, NovaScotia, Great Lakes, etc. European tours and steam-ship tickets to all parts of the World-separately,or in conjunction with Soviet tours .

0Tickets for air, rail and bus transportation .

WORLD TOURISTS, Inc .175 FIFTH AVENUE

NEW YORKALGONQUIN 4- 6656-7-8

orINDEPENDENT TOURS

vi HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

Amtorg Trading Corporation261 Fifth Avenue, New York City

Head Office for the U .S.S .R. :

Amtorg, Sovietskaya Ploshchad 1, Moscow

Codes-Boe, Bentley, Marconi, A.B.C ., Peterson,

Cable Address - Amtorg, New York

Imports Soviet products and exports American goods for the principalimport and export organizations of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

PRINCIPAL SOVIET PRODUCTSIMPORTED INTO THEUNITED STATES :

Agricultural Products-Flax, hemp, and towSeedsLentilsSunflower seed oilSausage CasingsBristles and horsehairTobaccoFursFish ProductsCrabmeatCaviarCanned, smoked, dried, and

frozen fishHides and LeatherLumber and Pulpwoodand Safety Matches

Rags and WasteMined Products-Manganese, iron, and chrome

oresApatiteAsbestosAnthracite coalPlatinumDiatomaceous earthPotashMagnesiteKaolinRugs and Art and Handicraft

ProductsConfectionery and BiscuitsLinen TextilesSantonin, Licorice, NicotineSulphate, and Other Drugsand Chemicals

PRINCIPAL AMERICANPRODUCTS EXPORTEDTO THE SOVIET UNION :

Machinery and Equipment-Metal workingForge and FoundryMetallurgicalMiningConstructionHoisting and ConveyingRoad BuildingElectricalPower plantLumber and loggingChemicalFoodTextileAgriculturalPrecision instrumentsBusiness

Transport EquipmentAutomobiles, parts and

accessoriesAviationRailwayMarine

Raw Materials, Semi .Manufactures, eto .-

Iron and Steel ProductsNon-Ferrous metalsFerro-AlloysGraphite ElectrodesPaints and dyesChemicals

HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION vu

The Literary DigestNEW MAP OF SOVIET RUSSIA

THELATEST,LARGEST,MOST

DETAILEDAND

ACCURATEMAP OF

THE U.S .S.R.IN ENGLISH

SIZE

4 1/2 x 3 1/2FEET

EIGHTATTRACTIVECOLORS

FREEHANDBOOKLISTING10,000PLACES

A cartographic achievement that Russian Am-bassador Troyanovsky called "an excellent pieceof work," and that the New York Herald-Tribunefinds "more useful than any other Soviet map inour library ."

It is an essential reference for anyone interestedin the U .S.S.R. and the Far East. It locates thous-ands of towns, villages and settlements hithertounrecorded . Political divisions are outlined andnamed. All geographic features, including high-ways, telegraph lines and wireless stations, areshown . Russian experts assisted in the compilation,and place names are official, transliterated by themost approved method . Japan, Northern China,Manchukuo and Mongolia are included on themap .

Four Useful Supplementary Maps"Trade Routes to Russia" and "Economic Asia"

are of especial value in a study of trade relations ."Peoples of Europe" and "Peoples of Asia," twoethnological maps, are essential in understandingRussia, which is peopled by 183 races.

FREE Handbook with each MapA 48-page Handbook lists 10,000 places, giving

the correct Soviet name, location, population, andtransportation and communication facilities . In-cludes a detailed analysis of the political-adminis-trative division of the Soviet Union and a tableof rules for transliteration .

Map Available in Three StylesWALL MAPS, mounted on half-round black mold-

ings, with brass hanging rings onCloth Backed Stock $8Tough Map Bristol $5

FOLDED MAP, in slip cover, onLight Map Paper $3

Prices include carriage charges .

The American-Russian Chamber of Commerce, by special arrangementwith The Literary Digest, now act as distributors of this fine map of theU.S.S .R . Orders should be sent to their office at 261 Fifth Avenue, NewYork City .

viii HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

When you telegraph to

Russia

be sure that your messages will

speed to their destination over

theonly direct commercial

route between the United States

and U .S .S .R . by marking them

46

991 it

7/ia(In Russia, mark messages "Via Moskva-Radio")

R. C. A. COMMUNICATIONS, Inc .A Radio Corporation of America Subsidiary

66 BROAD STREET

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HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION ix

U.S.S.R.Government

Bonds

IVBOUGHTSOLD

QUOTED

Soviet American Securities Corp.30 Broad Street • New York

x HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

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CATALOGOF AMERICAN TRADE & INDUSTRY

Fourth Edition1936-1937

Now in Preparation0

A Standard Refer-ence Volume andBuyers' Guide Forthe Use of SovietExecutives, Engineersand Technicians .

Compiled and Issued by

AMTORG TRADING CORPORATIONFor Advertising Apply to

INREKLAMA SERVICE14th Floor

Room 1415261 Fifth Avenue

New York

MANUFACTURERS TRUST COMPANY

offers complete facilities forCommercial Letters of Credit, ForeignCollections, and Purchase and Saleof Foreign Exchange . Our booklet,"FOREIGN EXCHANGE REGULATIONS AF-

FECTING EXPORTS," which containscurrent information about exchangerestrictions in those countries wherethey exist, is available to exportersupon request .

MANUFACTURERSTRUST COMPANY

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Here are two ships you'll really enjoytravelling on! The Washington and Man-hattan, sensational Ameircan twins, arestrictly modern, with all the latest com-forts and conveniences! They offer un-beatable value! They offer the comfortof air-conditioned dining salons! Theirfares are amazingly low!

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Pacific Line to California ; Panama Pacificand United States Lines cruises . No . IBroadway, New York .

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AMERICAN-R U S S I A NCHAMBER OFCOMMERCEAn organization of Amer-ican exporters to and im-porters from the SovietUnion the purpose ofwhich is to promote tradeactivity between theUnited States and theU.S.S .R .The organization main-tains offices in New Yorkand Moscow and is col-lecting and disseminatingtrade information, statis-tical data, market surveys,mailing lists, etc ., that areof vital assistance to thebest business interests ofits membership .Its New York and Moscowoffices will be pleased torender any possible assist-ance to American firmsor to their representativesin the Soviet Union andwill gladly discuss withrepresentatives of thesefirms any problems whichconfront them concerningAmerican-Soviet trade .AMERICAN - RUSSIANCHAMBER of COMMERCE261 Fifth Ave ., New York

xiv HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

The pilot and co-pilot need no longer hehelmsmen . The SPLRRY GYROPILC)T Ilvsthe plane safe] vand with precision while thepilot and co-pilot attend to their varied du-ties ascaptain, navigator andradio operator.

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HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION xv

CABLE ADDRESS : "JULEBACHE, NEW YORK"

MEMBERS

New York Stock ExchangeNew York Curb ExchangeNew York Cotton ExchangeChicago Board of TradeNew Orleans Cotton ExchangeLiverpool Cotton AssociationCommodity Exchange, Inc .New York Cocoa ExchangeNew York Produce ExchangeChicago Mercantile ExchangeWinnipeg Grain ExchangeCanadian Commodity Exchange, Inc .California Commodity Exchange, Ltd .Fort Worth Grain & Cotton Exchange

New York Coffee &

Houston Cotton ExchangeSt. Louis Merchants ExchangeToledo Produce ExchangeMinneapolis Chamber of CommerceKansas City Board of TradeChicago Stock ExchangeBoston Stock ExchangeCelveland Stock ExchangeDetroit Stock ExchangePhiladelphia Stock ExchangePittsburgh Stock ExchangeBuffalo Stock Exchange

Wool Associates ofThe New York Cotton Exchange, Inc .

Sugar Exchange

Associate Members :United Terminal Sugar Market Association, London

Alexandria (Egypt) Cotton Exchange

42 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, U. S. A.316 SOUTH LA SALLE STREET, CHICAGO

Branch Offices in Principal Cities of U. S. A .

FOREIGN OFFICESLONDON, ENGLAND

TORONTO, CANADA

5 BISHOPSGATE

STAR BUILDING

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xvi HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

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INTERNRTIONflL BUSINESSMflCHINES CORPORflTION

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HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION xvii

ANDERSON, CLAYTON & CO.Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Savannah, Mobile,

Boston, Providence, Charlotte, Fall River, New Bedford,

Dallas, Augusta, Memphis.

ANDERSON, CLAYTON & FLEMING60 BEAVER STREET

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Members: New York Cotton Exchange, New Orleans CottonExchange, Chicago Board of Trade, Liverpool Cotton

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( 7720Telephones 9-{ to Bowling Green

17725)Established 1856

Cable Address"Kausche"All Codes

R. F. DOWNING & COMPANY, Inc .Customs Brokers and Forwarders

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Merchandise forwarded to and from all parts of the world . - Correspondentsin all principal cities of the world . Publishers of Downings' U . S. Customs

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xviii HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

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xx


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HANDBOOKof the

SOVIET UNION

AMERICAN -RUSSIANCHAMBER OF COMMERCE

NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT, 1936

byAMERICAN-RUSSIAN CHAMBER O F COMMERCE

FOREWORD

The Handbook of the Soviet Union is the successor of the"Economic Handbook of the Soviet Union," published by theAmerican-Russian Chamber of Commerce in 1931, and seeksto present in a concise form, facts and statistics concerning thedevelopment of some of the more important phases of the na-tional economy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics .

The statistics and much of the information contained in thisvolume were obtained from official Soviet sources. We publishthem in the belief that they are as accurate as such compila-tions can be made and that they provide an authoritative basisupon which to build an understanding of the development ofSoviet trade, industry and agriculture in recent years and ofthe social and political structure of that country . The figures for1934 are in many cases preliminary and subject to later revision .

The American-Russian Chamber of Commerce is gratefulto the Information Department of the Amtorg Trading Cor-poration for its assistance in connection with the preparation ofthe Handbook, and also to the various departments of thegovernment of the U .S .S.R . which have published much ofthe material on which the data contained therein have beenbased.

THE AMERICAN-RUSSIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.October, 1 935 .

CONTENTS

I. Area and PopulationII. Government

Courts and Legal Codes

Civil and Criminal Law

III. Foreign Relations

. .

.Commercial Treaties and TradeAgreements .

.

IV. Economic Geography - Natural ResourcesFur and Timber Resources . .Agricultural Resources . .Mineral Resources . . .Allocation of Productive Forces

.

19

1518

20

30

3540414458

V. Economic Development . . . . 61The First Ten Years (1918-1928) 61State Planning System . . . 64Fulfillment of the First Five-Year Plan 67First Two Years of the Second

Five-Year Plan77Place of the U .S.S.R. in World Economy

80

VI. The Second Five-Year Plan (1933-1937) .Program of New Construction . .Program for Raising the Material and

Cultural Level of the Workers andPeasants

.

VII. IndustryOrganization of Industry .

.CoalCokeOilOil Shale

8496

104

109109113117118127

Peat

.Iron and SteelManganese

.Non-Ferrous MetalsMachine Building

.AgriculturalTractors and Automobiles .

Chemical Industry . . .Timber and Allied Industries . .Building Materials .Food IndustryManufactured Consumers' GoodsElectrificationElectrotechnical Industry

.

.

.

.

VIII. Agriculture .Expansion of Sown Area . . . .State FarmsCollective FarmsCapital InvestmentsGrain CropIndustrial and Other CropsLivestock SituationSecond Five-Year Plan .

.

IX. Transportation and CommunicationsRailways

Freight and Passenger Traffic .Technical Reconstruction of RailwaysNew Railways

Water Transportation

.Inland WaterwaysMerchant MarineMaritime Ports

.

.Motor Transport-RoadsCivil Aviation

Aviation Industry, Dirigibles, GlidersTelegraph and Telephone .

.Radio

X. Municipal ConstructionMunicipal ServicesReconstruction of Old Towns and Build-

ing of New Cities

128130139140149156161166176184186193199207

212214217221225227229232236

239239241243245250251254255259263267271272

275278

280

XI. Foreign Trade of the U.S.S.R . . .Principles and Policies

.

.Volume of TradeCharacter of Imports and Exports .Imports by Commodities . .U.S.S.R. as a Market for Tndustrial

Products

.

.

.

.Exports by Commodities .Foreign Trade by Countries

European Countries

.

.Asiatic Countries

.

.

.North and South America .

.Credits and Foreign IndebtednessU.S .S.R. Chamber of Commerce .Fairs and Exhibits

.ShippingConcessions and Technical AssistanceContracts

Prospects of Soviet Foreign Trade

XII . American-Soviet Trade RelationsU.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade Agreement .Exports to the U .S.S.R . .

.Purchases in U .S.A. by StatesImports from U. S . S. R . .

.Technical Assistance ContractsShippingSoviet Bonds and Torgsin OrdersDoing Business with the U.S.S.R .

XIII. Domestic TradeClosed Stores and Workers' Supply

Departments

.State Commercial Trade

.Collective Farm Trade

XIV. FinanceThe Currency System . . .Banking System of the U.S.S.R .Credit ReformState Bank of U.S.S.RLong-Term Credit Banks .

.Savings BanksFinancing of National Economy

284284291293295

297303316320334341343345345346

346347

349360361368369375377377381

383

387389391

396396398400403407411414

State Loans

. 424Taxation System 427Compulsory Insurance 431

XV. Labor Conditions and Social Welfare 433Number of Workers 434Trade Unions 437Hours and Wages 438Social Insurance 442Labor Protection 446

Health and Vital Statistics . 448Maternity and Infant Protection 453Physical Culture and Sports . 454Marriage and Divorce 456Support of Children 458

Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies 459

XVI. Educational and Cultural Development . 461Eradication of Illiteracy . 462Educational System

. .

. 463Increase in Number of Specialists 469Extra-Mural Education 470Scientific Research

.

.

.

. 474Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries 480

XVII. Regulations for Foreigners .

. 482Currency Regulations . . . . 487

Rules Governing the Import and Ex-port of Soviet Currency 489

State Bank Deposits

.

. 490Travelers' Checks 492Soviet Bonds 493Patents and Copyrights . . 494Trade Marks

. .

. . 497Copyright Laws

. 498Torgsin Service

. 498

XVIII. Tourist Travel in the Soviet Union .

. 500Intourist Service

.

.

. 502Transit Service 504Visa Regulations

. 505Border Points 506

Appendix I . Statistical Survey507

"

II. Miscellaneous Information (Weights,Measures, etc .)515

III . Chronicle of Events518

IV. Bibliography 533

V. Diagram Showing AdministrativeDivisions of the U .S.S.R .

. . 543

VI . American-Russian Chamber ofCommerce

VII. Maps of New and ReconstructedTowns in the U.S.S.R.

U.S .S.R. in Europe . . . 547U.S.S.R. in Asia . . .

. 548Index 549

Map of European Territory of theU.S .S .R Inside Front Cover

Map of Asiatic Territory of the U.S .S.R . . Inside Back Cover

544

I

AREA AND POPULATION

THE Union of Soviet Socialist Republics occupies over one-seventh of the total land area of the earth, making it the largestcountry in the world, with the exception of the British Empirewith all of its dependencies . Its land area totals 21,230,700square kilometers (8,195,000 square miles) . The land area ofthe United States, excluding possessions, is 2,973,776 squaremiles. The total land area of the U .S .S.R . is divided geographi-cally as follows : European part-4,600,000 sq. km., Asiaticpart-16,6oo,ooo sq. km. Owing to the separation after thewar of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Bes-sarabia and the province of Kars from the former Russian Em-pire, the territory of the Soviet Union is 97 per cent of that ofthe Tsarist Empire .

The population of the Russian Empire before the war wasestimated at 182 million. On January 1, 1914, the populationof the present territory of the U .S .S .R . was 139.7 million. Thepopulation on January 1, 1933 was estimated at 165 .7 million .The growth of population is shown on the following page .

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, as established by theConstitution of the Union ratified on July 6, 1923, was com-posed of four republics : (i) the Russian Socialist FederatedSoviet Republic (R .S.F.S.R .) ; (2) the Ukrainian SocialistSoviet Republic ; (3) the White Russian Socialist Soviet Re-public ; and (4) the Transcaucasian Socialist Federated SovietRepublic . Early in 1925 two newly-formed republics entered

1 According to the census of December 17, 1gz6 .

the Union, viz., the Turcoman Socialist Soviet Republic andthe Uzbek Socialist Soviet Republic . Late in 1929 the TadzhikSocialist Soviet Republic, formerly an autonomous section ofthe Uzbek Republic, was organized and became the seventhconstituent republic of the Union .

The Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic (R .S.F.S.R .)is the largest of the seven constituent republics, occupying overgo per cent of the entire area of the Union and possessing about70 per cent of the total population . It is divided into twenty-three main regions and fourteen autonomous socialist sovietrepublics . Some of these embrace a number of small autonom-ous areas. The autonomous areas and republics are divisionsbased on nationality lines ; the regions on economic lines . Someof the other constituent republics embrace a small number ofautonomous areas and republics . The Ukraine is divided intoseven regions . All of the republics, regions and areas are sub-divided into districts, of which there are approximately 2,500 inthe U.S .S.R. Moscow is the capital of the U .S .S.R .

HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION2

POPULATION OF RUSSIA AND U .S .S .R .

(in millions)

URBAN POPULATIONPER CENT (in per cent

DATE TOTAL OF 1914 URBAN RURAL of total)

Jan. 1, 1914 139 .7 100.0 25 .8 113 .9 18 .5Jan . 1, 1917 141 .7 101 .4 29 .0 112 .7 20 .4Aug. z8, 1920 130 .9 93 .7 20 .8 110 .1 15 .9Mar . 1 5, 1923 133 .5 95 .6 21 .6 111 .9 15 .4Jan . 1, 1925 140 .0 100 .2 23 .2 116 .8 16 .6Jan . I, 1927 1 147 .0 105 .3 26 .3 120 .7 17 .9Apr. 1, 1928 151 .3 108 .3 27 .9 123 .4 18 .4Apr. I, 1929 154 .8 11o .8 29 .0 125 .8 18 .7Apr. 1, 1930 158 .4 113 .4 30.2 128 .2 19 .1July 1, 1931 16z ., 116 .o 33 .6 ,z8 .5 20 .7Jan . 1, 1932 163 .7 117 .2 - - -Jan. 1, 1933 165 .7 118 .6 38 .7 127 .0 23 .3

AREA AND POPULATION 3

The following tables give the most important territorialdivisions of the U .S .S .R. and the name and population of thecapital city or administrative center and its distance fromMoscowAREA AND POPULATION OF THE CONSTITUENT REPUBLICS

(as of January r, 1933)

a For the seven constituent Republics as of July I, 1931 ; for the U .S .S .R . as a wholeas of January 1, 1933 .

AREA POPULATION

(in Total (perUrban(per(in

CONSTITUENT

thousand per (in square cent ofREPUBLICS

s q . km .) cent) thousands) km.) total)'

Russian Socialist92 .8 113,991 .1 5 .8 20 .8Federated Soviet Republic 19,707 .0

Ukrainian SocialistSoviet Republic

451 .8 2 .I 32,069 .7 71 .0 20 .5White Russian Socialist

Soviet Republic

iz6.8 o .6 5,439 .4 42 .9 1 5 .8Transcaucasian Socialist

Federated Soviet Republic

185.6 0 .9 6,888 .3 37 .1 27 .0Uzbek Socialist

Soviet Republic

172.0 0 .8 4,928 .4 z8 .6 24.2Turcoman Socialist

Soviet Republic

443 .6 2 .1 1,182 .2 2 .7 17 .3Tadzhik Socialist

Soviet Republic

143.9 0 .7 1,182 .1 8 .z 8 .8

Union

Sovietof23 . 37.8165,68i .zSocialist Republics

21,230.7 100.0

CAPITAL CITY OR ADMINISTRATIVE CENTERDISTANCE

REPUBLIC OR REGION SNAME OF CITY POPULATION

FROMDec . 2926Census

MoscowX933' (km .')

I. R .S .F .S .R . Moscow 2,025,947 3,572,000 -(Regions)

I . Northern Archangel 69,578 148,047* 1,1372 . Leningrad Leningrad 1,614,008 2,839,000 65o

3. Western Smolensk 78,520 96,000* 419

4- Moscow Moscow 2,025,947 3,572,000 -S_ Ivanovo Industrial Ivanovo 111,276 190,000 3186. Gorky Gorky (former-

ly NizhniNovgorod) 220,819 477,000 440

4 HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION


REPUBLIC OR REGION NAME OF CITY POPULATION

FROM

Dec. x926Census

Moscow-913' (km .')

7 . Sverdlovsk s Sverdlovsk(formerlyEkaterin-burg) 131,669 481,000 1,686

8 . Cheliabinsk s Cheliabinsk 59,307 217,000 2,0699 . Ob-Irtysh s Tyumen 50,340 6z,ooo 2,142

Io . Kuibyshev (formerly Kuibyshev(formerlySamara) 175,662 239,200* 1,046

Middle Volga)

II . Central Black Soil Voronezh 120,017 214,000

58712. Stalingrad' Stalingrad

(formerlyTsaritsyn) 143,110 412,000 1,072

13 . Saratov 7 Saratov 215,276 338,000

84314. Azov-Black Seas Rostov-on-Don 323,225 520,000 1,35315. North Caucasian' Piatigorsk e 40,723 56,705 1,84816 . West Siberian Novosibirsk

(formerlyNovoniko-laevsk) 125,382 294,000 3,488

17 . East Siberian Irkutsk 98,764 142,379" 5,09218 . Far Eastern Khabarovsk 49,704 89500 * 8,46119. Kirov' Kirov

(formerlyViatka) 62,907 73,534

96520. Orenburg to Orenburg 123,283 133,300 1 ,47 1zI . Omsk 1O Ornsk II5,65o 228,700 2,72122. Krasnoyarsk 1o Krasnoyarsk 72,261 104,700 4,11223 . Kalinin 10 Kalinin

(formerly Tver) 108,413 151,089

166(Autonomous Republics)

Ufa 98,537 153,993" 1,519I . Bashkir2 . Buryat-Mongol (part of

Verkhneudinsk 28,918 54,000* 5,581East Siberian Region)3 . Chuvash (part of

Corky Region) Cheboksary 8,831 12,oo6* 7464. Crimean Simferopol 88,340 90,125* 1,4595. Daghestan (part of

North Caucasian Re-gion) Makhach-Kala

(formerlyPetrovsk-Port) 32,000 52,040* 2,127

AREA AND POPULATION 5

a In addition to the autonomous republics and regions listed above, there are in theR .S .F.S .R. twelve autonomous areas and nine national regions . The autonomous areasare : Komi, Mariisk, Kalmyk, Adygeisk, Checheno-Ingushsk, Kabardino-Balkirian, Karachaev,North Ossetian, Cherkess, Khakassk, Oirot, Jewish . The national regions are : Nenets,Komi-Permyatsk, Ostyak-Vogulsk, Yamalsk, Vitimo-Olekminsk, Taimyr, Evenkisk, Konyak,Chukotsk . Three additional autonomous areas, the Gorno-Badakhshan, South Ossetian andNagorno-Kharabakhsk are located in the Tadzhik S .S .R ., the Georgian S.S .R . and theAzerbaidzhan S .S .R ., respectively .

4 An asterisk signifies t932 data .5 1 km.=o .6z mi. Distances are along railway lines .B Until January, 1934, these three regions constituted the Ural Region (administrative

center Sverdlovsk) .7 Until January, 1934, these two regions made up the Lower Volga Region (administrative

center Stalingrad) .8 Until January, 1934, these two regions formed one region-the North Caucasian (ad-

ministrative center Rostov-on-Don) .oThe center of this region is to be transferred later to Georgievsk (t933 pop .-21,629) .1o The Kirov Region (formerly part of the Gorky Region), the Orenburg Region (form-

erly part of the Middle Volga Region), the Omsk Region (formed out of sections ofthe West Siberian. and Chetiabinsk Regions), and the Krasnoyarsk Region (formed out ofsections of the West and East Siberian Regions) were established by a decree of theCentral Executive Committee of the R .S .F .S .R . on December 7, 1934 . The Kalinin Region(formed out of sections of the Moscow, Leningrad and Western Regions) was establishedby a decree of the C .E .C . of the R .S .F .S .R . on January 29, 1935 .


REPUBLIC OR REGION

NAME OF CITY POPULATION

FROMDec. 1926Census

Moscow

1933 * (km .n )6. German Volga (part

of Saratov Region) Engels(formerlyPokrovsk) 34,352 53,788 * 872

7 . Kara-Kalpak Turtkul(formerly

Petroalexan-drovsk) 4,207 7,282* 3,136

8. Karelian Petrozavodsk 27,105 48,477 * 9249. Kazak Alma-Ata

(formerlyVerny) 45,385 108,481* 4,011

lo. Kirghiz Frunze (former-

ly Pishpek) 31,806 71,680* 3,720

I I . Tatar Kazan 179,023 267,000 78512. Yakut Yakutsk 10,508 10,558* 8,27213 . Udmurt

(part of Kirov Izhevsk 63,2 I1 98,205 1,152

Region)

14- Mordov(part of KuibyshevRegion) Saransk 15,431 21,458 6zo

6


rl The seat of government of the Ukraine was transferred from Kharkov to Kiev inJanuary, 5934 . Before December, 1919, Kiev had been the capital .

Other large centers of population are as follows :


REPUBLIC OR REGION

NAME OF CITY POPULATION

FROM

Dec . 1926Census

Moscow1933 ' (kms)

II . Ukrainian S.S.R .(Regions)

Kiev II 513,637 607,764* 855

I . Vinnitsaz. Dniepropetrovsk

VinnitsaDniepropetrovsk

(formerly

57990 58,440 * r,o85

3 . DonetzEkaterinoslav)

Stalino (formerly232,925 378,000 1,089

Yuzovka) 105,857 285,ooO 1,1704 . Kiev Kiev 513,637 607,764* 8555 . Odessa Odessa 420,862 442,980* 1,5096. Kharkov Kharkov 457,342 742,000* 7817 . Chernigov(Autonomous Republic)

Chernigov 35,234 35,005 * 8o8

Moldavian Tiraspol 21,741 25,748 * 1,637III. White Russian S .S .R . Minsk 131,528 163,050*

751IV. Transcaucasian S .F .S .R . Tiflis 294,044 414,000 3,218

I . Azerbaidzhan S .S .R. Baku 453,333 709,000 2,648(Autonomous Republic)

Nakhichevan Nakhichevan 8,946 11,742 3,7242 . Georgian S .S .R. Tiflis 294,044 414,000 3,z18

(Autonomous Republics)Adzharistan Batum

45,450 62,609 3,567Abkhazia Sukhum

20,032 28,136 3,5203 . Armenian S .S .R. Erivan

64,649 150,000 3,421V.. Uzbek S.S .R . Tashkent

323,544 491,000* 3,328

VII. TadzhikVI. Turcoman S.S.R .

S .S .R.Ashkhabad

51,593Stalinabad (for-

70,988* 3,404

merly Dyushambe) 5,607 60,000 3,936

REGION OR REPUBLIC POPULATIONDec . 1926Census 1933

12

Perm Sverdlovsk Region 119,776 270,000Stalinsk (formerly

Kuznetsk) West Siberian Region 3,894 249,000Magnitogorsk Cheliabinsk Region 2,382 230,000Omsk West Siberian Region 150,608 228,700*Astrakhan Stalingrad Region 195,232 221,650*

AREA AND POPULATION

32 An asterisk signifies 1932 data.13 gss is a contraction standing for "state power station" .

On Jan . I, 1933, there were 65 cities with a population ofover 100,000, as against 3 1 at the end of 1926 and only 16 in1914 . Moscow is the fourth largest city in the world and Len-ingrad the seventh .

More than three-quarters of the population of the Unioninhabits its European part . There are in the U .S .S.R. approxi-mately 18o nationalities speaking about 150 languages ordialects . The following table gives the population of the mostimportant nationalities (according to the census of Dec . 17,1926) :

7

REGION OR REPUBLIC POPULATIONDec. 1gz6Census 1933 sa

Tula Moscow Region 147,817 2o6,zoo*Grozny North Caucasian Region 70,896 201,000Vladivostok Far Eastern Region 107,980 190,000*Krasnodar (formerly

Ekaterinodar) North Caucasian Region 154,303 179,900*Yaroslavl Ivanovo Industrial Region 114,277 177,000Samarkand Uzbekistan 105,106 154,600*Taganrog North Caucasian Region 86,465 149,000Mariupol Ukraine 71,211 146,000Zaporozhye (formerly

Alexandrovsk) Ukraine(near Dnieproges) is 55,774 142,054*

POPULATION

PER CENT OFTOTAL

POPULATIONRussians 77,760,100 5Z-9Ukrainians 31,194,800 21 .2White Russians (White Russia) 4,739,900 3 .2Kazaks l' (Kazakstan and Central Asia) 3,959,900 2 .7Uzbeks (Central Asia) 3,904,500 z .6Tartars (Kuibyshev Region and Crimea) 3,015,200 2.0Jews 2,600,900 1 .8Georgians (Transcaucasia) 1,821,200 I .2Azerbaidzhan Turks (Transcaucasia) 1,706,600 1 .2Armenians (Transcaucasia) 1,567,500 1 .IMordvinians (Kuibyshev Region) 1,340,400 0 .9

8


14 Not to be confused with the Cossacks .

POPULATION

PER CENT OFTOTAL

POPULATION

Germans (Saratov Region) 1,238,500 0 .8

Chuvashes (Gorky Region) 1,117,400 0 .7

Tadzhiks (Central Asia) 978,200 0 .7Poles (chiefly Ukraine and White Russia) 782,300 0 .5Kirghizes (Central Asia) 768,700 0 .5Turcomans (Central Asia) 766,100 0 .5Bashkirs (Urals) 713,700 0.4All others 7,216,200 5 .1

II

GOVERNMENT

THE Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a federal stateformed by the voluntary association of its seven constituentrepublics on a basis of full equality. The central governmenthas jurisdiction in all matters concerned with foreign relationsand in those domestic matters relating to the Union as a whole .Adherence to the Union does not limit the autonomy of theconstituent republics in the field of local administration or mat-ters of social welfare, such as health, education, etc .

The highest organ of authority in the U .S.S.R. is the All-Union Congress of Soviets, composed of delegates from urbansoviets and from regional and republican congresses of soviets .It convenes once in two years. During the interval between theAll-Union Congresses of Soviets the supreme authority de-volves upon the Central Executive Committee, elected at theAll-Union Congress and responsible to it . The Central Execu-tive Committee is composed of two houses : the Council of theUnion and the Council of Nationalities . The membership ofthese two Councils, as elected at the 1935 Congress, numbered607 and 150, respectively . The last session of the CentralExecutive Committee took place during February, 1 935 .

The Council of the Union is elected by the All-Union Con-gress from the representatives of the seven constituent republicsin proportion to their population . The Council of Nationalitiesconsists of five representatives from each of the constituentand autonomous republics and one representative from each

9

Io


autonomous area . The members of the Council of Nationalitiesare elected at the congresses of the various constituent andautonomous republics and areas, but their election must be rati-fied by the All-Union Congress . Both Councils are responsibleto the All-Union Congress .

The Central Executive Committee meets three times a year .Between its sessions the supreme legislative, executive and ad-ministrative authority devolves upon the Presidium of the Cen-tral Executive Committee . This body consists of 27 members,including the nine members of the Presidium of the Councilof the Union, the nine of the Presidium of the Council ofNationalities, and nine elected by the two Councils in jointsession .

The Central Executive Committee and its Presidium areheaded by seven chairmen, each representing one of the constit-uent republics . The full list of chairmen is as follows :

CHAIRMEN OF THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE U.S .S .R .M . I. KalininG. I. PetrovskyA. G. CherviakovG. MusabekovNedirbay AitakovFaizulla KhodzhaevAbdulla Rakhimbayev

I. A. Akulov

Russian Socialist Federated Soviet RepublicUkrainian Socialist Soviet RepublicWhite Russian Socialist Soviet RepublicTranscaucasian Socialist Federated Soviet RepublicTurkoman Socialist Soviet RepublicUzbek Socialist Soviet RepublicTadzhik Socialist Soviet Republic

Secretary, Central Executive Committee

The Council of People's Commissars is the executive andadministrative organ of the Central Executive Committee . Itconsists of the following members :

COUNCIL OF PEOPLE'S COMMISSARS OF THE SOVIET UNION

Chairman

V. M. MolotovVice-Chairmen

A. A. Andreyev,

V. Y. Chubar,V. I. Mezhlauk Y. E . Rudzutak,

Foreign Affairs M. M. LitvinoffDefense K. E. VoroshilovForeign Trade A. P. RosengoltzTransportation

A. A. Andreyev

GOVERNMENT

Water TransportationCommunicationsHeavy IndustryTimber IndustryLight IndustryAgricultureState Farms (Grain and Livestock)Food IndustryInternal TradeFinanceState Planning Commission (Gosplan)Internal Affairs

ADDRESSES OF COMMISSARIATS, MOSCOW, U .S .S .R .

Council of People's CommissarsCommissariat for Foreign AffairsCommissariat for DefenseCommissariat for Foreign TradeCommissariat for TransportationCommissariat for Water TransportationCommissariat for CommunicationsCommissariat for Heavy IndustryCommissariat for Timber IndustryCommissariat for Light IndustryCommissariat for AgricultureCommissariat for State FarmsCommissariat for Food IndustryCommissariat for Internal TradeCommissariat for FinanceState Planning CommissionCommissariat for Internal Affairs

The State Planning Commission is one of three permanentcommittees of the Council of People's Commissars . The othertwo committees are the Council for Labor and Defense (STO)and the Commission of Soviet Control . The chairman of theCouncil of People's Commissars is also chairman of STO ;the other members are individually appointed by the Council ofPeople's Commissars . In practice the following are among thoseusually appointed : the People's Commissars for Defense, forFinance, and for Heavy Industry, the head of the All-Union

KremlinPloschad Vorovskovo, 5/21Ulitsa Frunze, IgIlinka, 23Novaya Basmannaya, 2Petrovka, 3/6Ulitsa Gorkovo, 17Ploschad Nogina, Delovoy DvorUlitsa Gorkovo, 59Chistiye Prudy, lzOrlikov per., I/I'Bolshoy Komsomolsky per., 6Ulitsa Razina, z6Ulitsa Pervovo Maya, 47Ilinka, 9Karuninskaya, 7/2Ulitsa Dzerzhinskovo, 2

II

N. I. PakhomovA. I. RykovG. K. OrdzhonikidzeS . S . LobovI . E . LubimovM. A . ChernovM. I. KalmanovichA. I. MikoyanL. Y. VeitzerG. T. GrinkoV . I . MezhlaukG. G . Yagoda

12


Central Council of Trade Unions, the chairman of the StatePlanning Commission, and the head of the State Bank . SinceDecember, 1930, Joseph V. Stalin has been a member of STO .This Council handles current problems of government activity,especially those concerned with the economic life or defense ofthe country . It has the power to issue binding decrees, but thesemay be repealed or amended by the Council of People's Com-missars. The Commission of Soviet Control was organized inFebruary, 1934 . It takes over the functions of the Commis-sariat for Workers' and Peasants' Inspection and of the Com-mittee of Fulfillment established in 1930 . By centralizing con-trol over the execution of Government decrees in the hands ofthis new committee it is expected to make such control moresystematic and effective and to bring about a more rapid elimi-nation of bureaucratic tendencies in administration .

On July 10, 1934 a new All-Union Commissariat for In-ternal Affairs was organized by a decree of the Central Execu-tive Committee, simultaneously with the liquidation of theUnited State Political Department (O.G.P.U.) The militiaand the various functions formerly carried out by the O .G.P.U.,such as the guarantee of order and the security of the state, etc .,were taken over by the new commissariat, while the judicialfunctions of the O.G.P.U. were transferred to the regularcourts. Similar commissariats were established in all the fed-erated republics of the Union, with the exception of theR .S .F.S .R ., where a representative of the All-Union Com-missariat functions as a member of the Council of People'sCommissars of the Russian Republics .

The Councils of People's Commissars of the seven consti-tuent republics comprise, in addition to the chairman and vice-chairmen, the Chairman of the State Planning Commission,the Commissars for Finance, Agriculture, Internal Trade,Local Industry, Municipal Economy, Justice, Health, Educa-

GOVERNMENT

1 3

tion and Social Welfare, and representatives of the All-UnionCommissariats for Foreign Affairs, Defense, Foreign Trade,Heavy Industry, Timber Industry, Light Industry, Food In-dustry, State Farms, Water Transport and Communications .In addition, as noted above, all republics, except the R .S.F.S.R .,have also a Commissar for Internal Affairs . The first threecommissariats, Finance, Agriculture and Internal Trade, aresubordinated to the corresponding All-Union Commissariats,while the others exist only in the constituent republics, therebeing no All-Union Commissariats for these departments .

Village, municipal, district, regional and republican affairsare administered by corresponding soviets which form execu-tive committees to carry on the work between their sessions .Election of delegates to the soviets takes place on the basis ofoccupational rather than geographical representation . In citiesdelegates are elected from factories, offices, etc ., while in ruralcommunities delegates are elected at village meetings or bystate and collective farms .

The right to vote and to be elected is extended to all citizens-irrespective of sex, race, nationality or religion-who are 18years of age or over and perform productive and socially use-ful labor, by members of the army and navy, and by citizensbelonging to the category of workers but incapacitated forlabor. Those disenfranchised include : members of royalty,police and secret service employees of the old regime, the clergy,private traders, persons living on unearned income or exploitingthe labor of others, and the insane. Ninety-one million citizenswere entitled to vote in the 1934 elections .

Five million more voters were eligible to take part in theelections to the VIIth Congress of Soviets than in the 1 93 1elections . Most of the new voters were young people whohad reached the age of 18 since the previous election . In addi-tion, many kulaks and their families and others formerly de-

14


prived of the right to vote but who, by their socially usefulwork and otherwise, had proved their support of the Sovietregime, had their citizenship rights restored . The actual par-ticipation in elections increased from 39 million in 1926(5 t per cent of the eligible voters) to 62 million (7 2 per cent)in 1931 and 77 million (85 per cent) in 1934 . Attendanceof women at elections has also increased markedly. In thelast elections 9o per cent of the eligible women voters in thecities and 8o per cent in rural localities participated, while in1926 only 43 per cent of the urban women and 28 per cent ofthe women in villages took part in elections .

At the VIIth Congress of the Soviets held in January,1935, a resolution introducing several important changes inthe Constitution of the U .S .S.R. was adopted. The resolutioncalled for the modification of the Constitution in the directionof further democratization of the electoral system of the SovietUnion, equalization of electoral rights (as between the cityand the village), substitution of direct for indirect elections,and of secret for open ballots . It called also for further clari-fication or adjustment of the social-economic bases of the Con-stitution in accordance with the existing relations of class forcesin the U .S .S .R. (creation of a new socialist industry, liquidationof kulaks, victory of collectivization, strengthening of socializedproperty as the basis of the Soviet society, etc .) A Constitu-tional Commission headed by Joseph V. Stalin was appointedto work out the text of a Constitution embodying these changes .

The substitution of direct for indirect elections will result inthe replacement of the old system whereby the members of theAll-Union, republican and regional congresses were electedby delegates to the lower bodies by direct balloting by thepeople for all government organs, including the Central Execu-tive Committee of the U.S.S.R. The equalization of electoralrights will remove the difference in representation of the village

GOVERNMENT

15

and city (formerly representatives to city soviets and to theCongresses of Soviets of the federated republics and of theUnion were elected on the basis of one delegate to 25,000voters, while representatives to rural congresses where peasantspredominated were elected on the basis of one delegate to125,000 inhabitants) . With the firm establishment of col-lectivization this inequality in representation is no longer con-sidered necessary and is consequently being abolished .

The Communist Party, the sole political party, plays the lead-ing role in shaping and helping to execute the policies of thegovernment . The last Party Congress, the seventeenth, tookplace from Jan. 26 to Feb. 10, 1934 ; the previous one washeld July, 1930 . Party conferences and plenary sessions areheld between the congresses. At the Seventeenth Congress 1,961delegates (1,225 with decisive votes and 736 with consultativevotes) represented 1,872,488 party members and 935,298 can-didates. A Central Committee was elected consisting of 71members and 68 candidates . The principal executive organ ofthe Central Committee is the Political Bureau, now consistingof the following members : J. V. Stalin, V. M. Molotov, L . M .Kaganovich, K . E. Voroshilov, M . I. Kalinin, G . K. Ordzhoni-kidze, V . Y. Chubar, A . I. Mikoyan, A. A. Andreyev, S . V .Kossior .

The Young Communist League is the youth communist or-ganization (up to the age of 23) . It has about five millionmembers and candidates. The Young Pioneers, the children'sorganization (from ages of to to 16), has six million members.

COURTS AND LEGAL CODES

THE Soviet judicial system embraces local (people's) courts ofboth civil and criminal jurisdiction, regional courts of secondinstance, supreme courts of the constituent republics and the

i6


Supreme Court of the Union, subdivided into various courtsof special jurisdiction . The Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R .,which is attached to the Central Executive Committee, rendersopinions as to the constitutionality of decisions of the supremecourts or of any legislation of the constituent republics, settleslegal disputes between any of these republics, and considersdirectly all cases of crimes committed in office by high officialsand serious civil or criminal cases of Union importance .

Each of the seven constituent republics making up theU.S.S.R. has its own body of laws, which must, however, notconflict with the Constitution of the U .S .S.R. or with generallegislation for the Union as a whole . According to the Con-stitution, the independence of the constituent republics extendsto all matters not coming specifically within the competency ofthe Union, such as international relations, organization and con-trol of the armed forces, foreign trade, the direction of trans-portation and communications, the establishment of the funda-mental labor laws and the basic principles governing legalprocedure and civil and criminal legislation .

One of the fundamentals of Soviet legislation is the abolitionof private ownership in the basic means of production . All land,forests, mineral wealth, waters, transportation and large-scaleindustry have been nationalized . Another basic principle is theright of every nationality within the borders of the SovietUnion to self-determination, i .e ., the right to organize its owneconomic, political and cultural life, to establish its own localgovernment and to use its own language in schools, courts, etc .In the case of the seven constituent republics the right of self-determination includes the right, guaranteed by the Constitu-tion, of secession from the Union. No legislation in contradic-tion to either of these two principles is valid .

A recent addition to the Soviet judicial system is the Central

GOVERNMENT

17

Department of Public Prosecution established by decree of June20, 1933. A. I. Vishinsky is the present Public Prosecutorof the U.S .S.R. His authority and functions include : generalsupervision of the work of the prosecuting departments of theconstituent republics ; checking examination of all decisionsadopted by government departments, both of the U .S .S.R. andits constituent republics, as well as by local authorities, to ensurethat they conform to the Constitution and the decrees of theCentral Government, with a right of appeal to higher judicialbodies against court decisions ; the right to introduce cases in allcourts of the U.S.S.R . ; supervision of the acts of the militia,the criminal investigation authorities and corrective labor in-stitutions as to their legality and propriety.

With the abolition of the judicial functions of the O .G.P.U .by the decree of July io, 1934, crimes formerly tried byO.G.P.U. courts are now referred to special collegiums of theregular courts of the U .S .S.R. Cases of treason, espionage, ter-rorism, incendiarism, etc ., are subject to the jurisdiction of themilitary collegium of the Supreme Court of the U .S.S.R. andcompetent military tribunals of the districts. Crimes on railwaysand water transport are subject to the jurisdiction of railwayand water transport collegiums of the Supreme Court . Othercrimes against the state of a counter-revolutionary nature aresubject to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the U .S .S.R .and the Supreme Courts of the federated republics ; specialcollegiums composed of a Chairman and two members of theCourt have been formed in the judicial institutions named forthe consideration of these cases . All other cases are now re-ferred to the jurisdiction of the People's Courts . A specialjudicial-supervisory collegium of the Supreme Court of tfieU.S.S.R ., composed of the Chairman of the Court and two ofhis deputies, has been set up for consideration of appeals fromsentences of the aforementioned collegiums and courts .

18


Civil and Criminal LawThe civil codes of the various republics are in all important

essentials analogous, but differ in certain details according tothe social peculiarities and customs of the nationalities inhabitingthem. Regulations for civil procedure are uniform .

Actions as a rule are presented in writing, but oral actions arepermitted as well, in which case they are recorded by the court .

In response to an action the defendant may lodge a counter-action, not later, however, than the day set for the hearing ofthe case . The parties to an action may conduct their case incourt personally or through duly authorized attorneys. Thetrial is conducted orally in public. The case is decided by thecourt on the basis of the evidence presented and the laws inforce. Soviet civil procedure eliminates the possibility of longdrawn-out litigation due to complicated legal technicalities . Thecourt's duty is to clarify the rights and mutual relations of thelitigants. It does not, therefore, limit itself to a considerationof the data presented, but aims to facilitate the elucidation ofthe circumstances essential to a decision of the case .

Appeals against decisions may be made successively to thenext higher court . A court examining a petition for reversal isconstrained by law not to limit itself to the formal or legalaspects of the case but to consider the substance thereof .

The purpose of Soviet criminal legislation is to secure thelegal defense of the state before the courts from socially dan-gerous acts tending to undermine the government or violatingthe law and order established by it. The code categorically repu-diates conceptions of punishment or revenge . Its aim is not tocause physical suffering or personal degradation, but to safe-guard effectively the work of society .

Court sentences are consequently considered as measures ofsocial protection and range widely in form and severity ac-cording to the nature of the offense . A sentence may consist

GOVERNMENT

z q

merely of a warning and public censure, of dismissal fromservice or of deprivation of civil rights ; in more serious casesto imprisonment not to exceed ten years . Capital punishment isapplied only in the case of crimes which seriously endanger thesocial order .

The period of imprisonment is utilized to help the prisonersovercome the influences which led them to commit criminalacts and to enable them to start life anew as normal, usefulmembers of society . No new prisons are being built . Insteadthere has been set up a system of corrective-labor institutions,farm and industrial colonies where systematic cultural work iscarried on and where the prisoners may learn a trade and ac-quire habits of industriousness. Regular wages are paid forwork performed. The entire penal system being educational andcorrective rather than punitive, the policy of probation and sus-pended sentences has been widely put into practice . Oftenprisoners are released on probation when from one-third toone-half of the sentence has been served .

III

FOREIGN RELATIONS

THE foreign policy of the Soviet Union has been characterizedby M. Chicherin, while Commissar for Foreign Affairs, asfollows :

" . . . one of the essential foundations of Soviet policy is theaspiration to peace and the desire to co-operate in its consolida-tion. No other policy is possible for the Soviet Union for thereason that the principal object of its activity is the economicreconstruction of the country, for which the existence offriendly relations with all nations as well as strong and un-broken economic ties with them are indispensable ."

In 1927, at the disarmament commission in Geneva, theSoviet delegates pressed the formula that the Soviet Union, withits system of socialism, could peacefully coexist and carry onnormal economic relations with other countries with differenteconomic systems . At later conferences this formula has beenemphasized and developed, and it has taken practical form invarious bilateral and multilateral agreements concluded by theSoviet Government with other countries .

In 1928, at an international armament conference, theSoviet delegates presented a plan for complete disarmament forall nations and alternative plans for progressive partial disarma-ment. At succeeding conferences they have repeatedly intro-duced these plans, and they have supported all concrete plans forarms reduction submitted by the delegates of other countries,including the American reduction plan put forward in 1932 .The Soviet Union was the first country to ratify the Kellogg20

FOREIGN RELATIONS

21

Pact renouncing war as an instrument of national policy, and,since the coming into effect of the pact was a slow process, theSoviet Government early in 1929 arranged special conventionswith its contiguous neighbors (Danzig, Estonia, Latvia, Persia,Poland, Rumania and Turkey) making the pact immediatelyeffective as among them . In the past two years, both at Genevaand London, the Soviet delegates have proposed a general non-aggression pact, with a definition of aggression, as a supplementto the Kellogg treaty. This definition was accepted in principleby the Committee on Security at Geneva . In addition, at theLeague of Nations Commission for the study of EuropeanUnion, May, 1931, and again at the London Economic Con-ference, June, 1933, the Soviet delegation offered an inter-national draft protocol on economic non-aggression, parallelingthe Kellogg Pact in the economic field .

On June 3, 1934, M . Litvinoff, on behalf of the Sovietdelegation, submitted to the Disarmament Conference at Genevaa draft of a resolution embodying a plan to transform the con-ference into a permanent body concerned with the preservationof the security of all states and of universal peace . Considera-tion of this proposal was postponed by the conference .

Beginning with 1925 the Soviet Government began conclud-ing a series of non-aggression pacts with other countries . Turkeysigned the first of these treaties with the Soviet Union in 1925 .Similar treaties were concluded with Germany, Afghanistan andLithuania in 1926, with Persia in 1927, with Finland, Latvia,Estonia, Poland and France in 1932, and with Italy in Septem-ber, 1933 . In April and May, 1934, protocols were signed ex-tending until 1945 the non-aggression pacts with Estonia,Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Poland. A protocol, whereinthe government of the U .S .S.R . and of Germany would "un-dertake to be guided invariably in their foreign policy by anagreement to preserve the independence and integrity of the

22


Baltic States," was proposed to the German Government by theSoviet Government on March 28, 1934 . On April i ith adviceof the rejection by Germany of the Soviet proposal was re-ceived .

During the World Economic Conference held at Londonin June-July, 1933, the Soviet Union concluded a series of con-ventions in which the signatories subscribed to a definition ofaggression based on the Soviet definition offered at Genevapreviously. One of these treaties was signed with seven of theSoviet Union's immediate neighbors, viz ., Afghanistan, Estonia,Latvia, Persia, Poland, Rumania and Turkey . A separate con-vention was signed with Lithuania. Another similar treaty wassigned with the countries of the Little Entente (Rumania,Czechoslovakia and Jugoslavia), and to this treaty Turkey alsowas a party . The first of these conventions was later adheredto by Finland, the Finnish ambassador to the U .S.S.R. signingin Moscow on July 22, 1 933 .The U.S.S.R. accepted membership in the League of Nations

in September, 1934, and was elected to a permanent seat onthe Council. Mr. Litvinoff, on behalf of his Government,renewed the proposal made earlier that the League establisha permanent body to keep a check on armaments and onthreats to peace as they might arise, this organ, with definiteresponsibilities and duties, to replace the disarmament confer-ence. The proposal of an Eastern European pact ("EasternLocarno") to bind the nations of Eastern Europe in a commonpeace agreement was made by the Soviet Union in cooperationwith France, in the summer of 1934, to Germany, Poland andother nations .

Practically all of the important countries of both Europeand Asia have granted de jure recognition to the Soviet Govern-ment, most of them during the period 1920-1925 . Thosecountries which established diplomatic relations with the

FOREIGN RELATIONS

23

U.S.S .R. at that time have maintained uninterrupted relations,with very few exceptions, until the present time . There was abreak in relations with Great Britain and China, but relationswere resumed in the first case in October, 1929, and in thesecond in December, 1932 . Diplomatic relations with Mexico,established in 1924, were broken off in January, 193o, andhave not been resumed . The Spanish Republic on July 28,1933, established relations de jure with the Soviet Union .On October 10, 1933, President Roosevelt, in a letter ad-

dressed to President Kalinin, suggested "frank, friendly con-versations" with a view to bringing to an end "the present ab-normal relations between the hundred and twenty-five millionpeople of the United States and the hundred and sixty millionpeople of Russia ." President Kalinin warmly welcomed thesuggestion and announced that Maxim M . Litvinoff, Com-missar for Foreign Affairs, would go to Washington to carryon the discussions for the Soviet Government.Mr. Litvinoff arrived November 7 and a series of discussions

with President Roosevelt and with officials of the State Depart-ment began forthwith . November 16, shortly before midnight,after an exchange of notes between President Roosevelt andMr. Litvinoff covering the problems involved, diplomatic re-lations between the United States and the Union of SovietSocialist Republics were formally established . William C . Bul-litt was appointed American Ambassador to Moscow andAlexander A. Troyanovsky was selected as Soviet Plenipotenti-ary Representative in Washington.

On Feb. 4, 1934, normal diplomatic relations were estab-lished between Hungary and the Soviet Union by an inter-change of notes at Rome between duly authorized representa-tives of the two countries. On June 9, 1 934, normal diplomaticrelations were established with Czechoslovakia and Rumania .On July 23 and September 1 7, 1934, and on June 25 and

24


July 13, 1935, similar exchanges of notes announced the estab-lishment of normal relations between Bulgaria, Albania, Co-lombia and Belgium, respectively, and the U .S .S.R . Thisbrought the total number of countries having recognized theU.S.S.R. to over thirty .

The countries with which the Soviet Union has normaldiplomatic relations are :

Europe: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Den-mark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain,Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland,Rumania, Spain, Sweden, Belgium .

Asia : Afghanistan, China, Japan, Mongolia, Iran (formerlyPersia), Turkey, Tuva, Saudi Arabia, Yemen .

North America : United States.South America : Colombia, Uruguay .

DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATIVES

A. OF THE U.S .S .R . IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES

NAME OF

COUNTRY

SOVIET AMBASSADOR

Afghanistan

Stark, Leonid N .Austria

Petrovsky, Adolph M .Bulgaria

Raskolnikov, F . F .China

Bogomolov, Dmitri V.Czechoslovakia

Alexandrovsky, S. S .

Denmark

Tikhmenev, N . S .Estonia

Ustinov, A. M.Finland

Asmus, EricFrance

Potemkin, V. P .Germany

Suritz, I . Z.Great Britain

Maisky, Ivan M .

Greece

Kobetsky, Mikhail V.Hungary

Bekzadian, A. A.Italy

Stein, B . E.Japan

Yurenev, Konstantin K.Latvia

Brodovsky, Stefan J.Lithuania

Karsky, M. A.Mongolia

Okhtin, Andrey Y.

ADDRESS OF EMBASSYKabulReisner St. 45, Vienna, 3SofiaLegation Quarters, NankingVilla Tereza, 438, Prague

(Vinohrady)Frydendalsvej, 27, Copenhagen,Pikk, 19, TallinBoulevard-Sgatan, 2t, Helsingfors79, Rue de Grenelle, ParisUnter den Linden, 7, Berlin, W. 813 Kensington Palace Gardens,London, W . 5

Rue Herode d'Attique, 7, Athens

Via Gaeta, 5, RomeAzabu, TokioAntonijas Iela, 2, RigaLaisves Aleja, 4, KovnoUlan-Bator-Khoto (The Consuls

Village)

S

FOREIGN RELATIONS

25

COUNTRY

NAME OF

SOVIET AMBASSADOR ADDRESS OF EMBASSY

NorwayIran (Persia)PolandRumaniaSaudi ArabiaSwedenTurkey

Yakubovich, I . S .

Uranien borgvein, z, OsloAlexey S . Chernikh

TeheranDavtian, Yakov K .

Poznanska ul . 5S, WarsawOstrovsky, M . S .

BucharestTiuriakulov, Nazir J.

DjeddaKollontay, Alexandra M. Karlvaegen, IS, StockholmL. M. Karakhan

AnkaraTuva (formerlyTannu-Tuva)

United StatesPopov, Nikifor V .Troyanovsky, Alexan-

5125 Sixteenth St ., N. W., Wash-der A .

ington, D. C.Uruguay Minkin, Alexander E .

Bolevar Artigas, 1410, Montevideo

B. OF FOREIGN POWERS ACCREDITED TO THE U.S .S .R.

COUNTRY NAME OF FOREIGN

AMBASSADOR

ADDRESS OF EMBASSY

(all in Moscow)

Afghanistan Abdul Hussein Aziz Vorovsky ul ., 42Austria Pacher, Heinrich Mertvy per ., 6Bulgaria l'vlichaltcheff, Prof .China Yen, Dr. W. W. Kropotkinskaya, 13Czechoslovakia Pavlu, Bohdan Maly Kharitonevsky per., 10

Denmark Engell, Ove Staro-Konyushenny per ., 23Estonia Tofer, Karl Mal. Kislovsky per ., 5Finland Yrjo-Koskinen, Baron A . Mal. Kharitonevsky per., 3France Alphand, Charles Pomerantsev per., 6Germany Frederick Von der

Schulenberg Leontievsky per., ioGreat Britain Chilston, Viscount Sofiskaya nab ., 14Greece Polychroniades, Spiridon Pervaya Grazhdanskaya, 24Hungary Arnothy, Dr. Michel J .Italy Attolico, Bernardo Dcnezhny per ., 5Japan Ota, Tamekichi Gertsen ul ., 42Latvia Bilmanis, Dr. Alfred Mashkov per., zLithuania Baltrusaitis, Jurgis Vorovsky ul ., 24Mongolia Darisap, M . Kropotkinskaya nab ., 35Norway Urbye, Andreas T . Mertvy per., 9Iran (Persia) Pakrevan Pokrovsky Blvd ., 3Poland Lukasiewicz, Julusz Vorovsky ul ., 21Rumania Chiunta, E .Sweden Gyllenstierna, Baron Eric Vorovsky ul ., 44Turkey Vassif, M . H . Gertsen ul ., 43aTuva Sedyboola, Tanova Vorovsky ul ., 2zUnited States Bullitt, William C. Mokhovaya, ul., 13

Uruguay Da Costa, Gen . Eduardo Petrovka, 15

26


Consulates of the U .S.S.R. have been established in theUnited States at Washington, New York and San Francisco .The addresses and the names of consuls follow :

Washington, D. C.-II25 Sixteenth St . N . W.-G. I .Gokhman .New York, N. Y.-7 East 61st St.-Jean Arens, Consul-

general.San Francisco, Cal. 2563 Divisadero St.-M. G. Galko-

vitch, Consul-general .The address of the consulate of the United States in Moscow

is Mokhovaya ul . I3 .

PRINCIPAL PEACE TREATIES, NON-AGGRESSION PACTS ANDEXCHANGES OF DIPLOMATIC NOTES

PLACE AND DATE orCOUNTRY

SIGNATURE OR

CONCLUSION

Afghanistan

Moscow; Feb. z8, 1921 A treaty between the R .S .F .S .R . andAfghanistan .

Pagmen; Aug. 31, 1926 Non-aggression pact.Kabul ; June z¢, 1931 Renewal of I9z6 pact ; went into

effect Oct . I5, I93r, for a termof 5 years.

Austria Vienna ; Dec . 8, r9zI A provisional agreement, includingtrade arrangements, between theR .S .F.S .R. and the UkrainianS.S.R. of the one part and theRepublic of Austria of the other ;extended to apply to the entireU .S .S .R., September 8, Igz3 .

China Pekin; May 31, r9z4 A general treaty and an agreementconcerning administration of theChinese-Eastern Railway .

December, 1927

Severance of relations with the Nan-king Government.

Khabarovsk ; Dec. zz,1929 Protocol re restoration of status quo

ante on the Chinese-Eastern Rail-way.

Geneva; Dec . 12, 1932 Announcement of resumption of dip-lomatic relations.

PLACE AND DATE OF

COUNTRY

SIGNATURE OR

CONCLUSION

Czechoslovakia

Prague ; June 5, I92z

Geneva ; June 9, 1934

Prague; May 16, 1935

Moscow ; April 23, 1923

June 17, 1924

Yurev ; Feb . 2, 19zo

Moscow ; May 4, 1932

Moscow; April 4, 1934

Yurev ; Oct. 14, 19zo

Helsingfors ; Jan . 21,1932

Moscow ; April 7, 1934

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

FOREIGN RELATIONS

27

Paris-Moscow ; Oct . Z8,1924

Paris ; Nov. z9, 1932

Geneva; Dec . 5, 1934

Paris ; May 2, 1935

Berlin; May 6, 1921

Rapallo ; Apr. 16, 1922

A provisional treaty, including traderegulations, between the R .S .F.S.R .and Czechoslovakia.

Exchange of notes re establishmentof diplomatic relations .

Security pact providing for mutualassistance in the event of aggres-sion by a third country .

A preliminary agreement betweenthe R .S .F .S .R. and Denmark .

Exchange of notes re establishmentof relations de jure ; includesquestions of trade.

A treaty of peace between theR.S .F .S .R. and Estonia.

Non-aggression pact ; went into forceAugust 18, 1 93z-

Non-aggression pact extended until1945 .

A treaty of peace between theR.S .F .S .R. and Finland .

Non-aggression pact ; went intoforce August 9, 1932-

Non-aggression pact extended until1945 .

Exchange of telegrams re establish-ment of relations de jure.

Non-aggression pact ; went intoforce Feb. 15, 1933 .

Protocol providing for Franco-Soviet collaboration in negotia-tions for the Eastern EuropeanPact .

Security pact providing for mutualassistance in the event of aggres-sion by a third country .

A provisional agreement, includingtrade arrangements, between theR .S .F.S.R. and Germany .

A treaty between the R .S .F .S .R. andGermany; extended on Nov . 5,1922 to the U .S .S .R.

28


-PLACE AND DATE OF

COUNTRY

SIGNATURE ORCONCLUSION

Berlin ; Apr. 24, 1926 Non-aggression pact .Moscow; June 24, 1931 Renewal of 1926 pact ; ratification

documents exchanged May 5, 1933 .Great Britain

Moscow-London ; Feb.1-8, 1924

Exchange of notes re establishmentof relations de jure.

Moscow-London ; May27, 1927

Exchange of notes severing rela-tions.

London ; Oct. 3, 1929 Protocol providing for the resump-tion of diplomatic relations .

Hungary Rome ; Feb- 4, 1934 Exchange of notes re establishmentof relations de jure ; ratified byHungarian parliament Feb. 1o,

1934.Italy Rome; Dec . z6, 1921 A preliminary agreement, including

trade arrangements, between theR .S .F .S .R . and Italy .

Moscow-Rome ; Feb. 7,1924

Exchange of notes re establishmentof relations de jure .

Rome; Sept . 2, 1933

Non-aggression pact ; ratified Sept.16, 1933 .

Japan

Pekin; Jan . 20, 1925

Convention on resumption of dip-lomatic and trade relations .

Latvia

Riga ; Aug. 11, 1920

A treaty of peace between theR.S .F .S.R . and Latvia.

Riga ; Feb . 5, 1932

Non-aggression pact ; went intoforce July zS, 1932 .

Moscow; April 4, 1934 Non-aggression pact extended until1945 .

Lithuania

Moscow; July 14, 1920 Treaty between the R.S .F .S .R . andLithuania .

Moscow ; Sept. z8, 1926 Non-aggression pact ; ratified Nov .9, 1926 .

Moscow ; May 6, 1931 Renewal of 1926 pact for a term of5 years ; ratified Aug . 29, 1931 .

Moscow; April 4, 1934 Non-aggression pact extended until1945 .

Persia

Moscow; Feb. 26, 1921 A treaty between the R.S.F.S .R . andPersia .

Moscow; Oct . 1, 1927 Non-aggression pact ; ratified Jan .31, 1928 .

Poland

Riga ; March 18, 1921 A treaty of peace between theR.S.F.S .R. and Poland .

FOREIGN RELATIONS 29

ment of permanent diplomaticrepresentation and entrance intonegotiations for a trade treaty .

The foregoing list does not include multilateral agreements,the most important being the protocol on the Kellogg Pact andthe 1933 conventions regarding aggression already noted . Aseparate list of those treaties and agreements dealing specificallywith trade is given below . Some of the non-aggression pactsincorporate the obligation on the part of the contracting partiesnot to undertake any measures which might hamper trade .Thus, Article IV of the non-aggression pact signed in Paris onNovember 29, 1932, between France and the U .S .S .R. readsas follows :

PLACE AND DATE OF

COUNTRY SIGNATURE OR

CONCLUSION

Moscow; July 25, 1932 Non-aggression pact ; went intoeffect Dec . 23, 1 93z-

Moscow; April 4, 1934 Non-aggression pact extended until

Rumania

Spain

Turkey

1945 .Geneva ; June 9, 1934 Exchange of notes re establishment

Moscow-Madrid ; July28, 1933

Moscow; March 16,

of diplomatic relations .

Exchange of telegrams re establish-ment of relations de jure .

1921

Paris ; Dec . 17, 1925

A treaty between the R.S .F .S .R. andTurkey .

A treaty of friendship and neu-trality.

Angora ; Dec . 17, 1929 Protocol providing for extension of

Angora; Oct . 31, 19311925 treaty for two years .

Protocol providing for extension ofabove treaty for 5 years fromdate of expiration ; ratified July21, 1932 .

United States Washington ; Nov. 16,1933 Exchange of notes re establishment

Uruguay August 21-zz, 1926

August 11-13, 1933

of relations de jure .Exchange of telegrams reestablish-

ment of relations de jure .Exchange of telegrams re establish-

30


"Each of the High Contracting Parties undertakes, duringthe period the present treaty is in force, to participate in nointernational agreements which would have the practical conse-quence of prohibiting purchases to be made of the other party,or the sale of goods, or the granting of credits to the other, andto take no measures which would result in excluding the otherparty from any kind of participation in its foreign trade ."

COMMERCIAL TREATIES AND TRADE AGREEMENTS

With the aim of regulating and developing its trade with

other countries, the U .S.S . .R has concluded commercial treaties

with many nations, thereby establishing a legal basis for the

normal development of economic relations . A special feature

of such agreements is the granting of diplomatic status to the

heads of the Soviet trade delegations, which carry on the for-

eign trade operations in other countries. Another feature of

many of the agreements is the inclusion of a most-favored-na-

tion clause . The conclusion of such trade agreements has

worked out to the mutual benefit of both signatories . In par-

ticular, they usually provide guaranties against prejudicial

measures aimed at the exports of either country. They also

constitute a basis for an expansion of commercial intercourse

between the two countries .

The Soviet Union has to date concluded commercial treaties

or trade agreements with most of the leading countries of

Europe and Asia . A list of the more important is given below :

PLACE AND DATE OFSIGNATURE OR

COUNTRY

CONCLUSIONCzechoslovakia

March 25, 193S

Estonia

Reval ; May 17, 1929

Moscow ; Oct. 31, 1934

An agreement regulating generalquestions of trade and providingfor most-favored nation treat-ment.

A treaty on trade and navigation ;came into force September 19,1929.

Trade agreement ; came into forceJan . I, 1935 •

FOREIGN RELATIONS

PLACE AND DATE OF

COUNTRY

SIGNATURE OR

CONCLUSION

Finland

April 3, 19Z9

France

Paris; Jan . 11, 1934

Moscow ; Dec . 9, 1934

Germany

Moscow ; Oct . 12, 1925

Moscow ; Dec . 21, 1928

Berlin; May z8, 1932

Great Britain

London; March 16,1921

London ; Apr. 16, 1930

London ; Feb . 16, 1934

Greece

Athens; June z3, 1gz6Athena ; June II, 1929

Athens ; Sept . 8, 1933

3 I

Customs and navigation conventionre customs supervision in the Gulfof Finland, cooperation in thestruggle against contraband, andnavigation rights .

Franco-Soviet trade agreement ;provides credits on Soviet pur-chases ; reduces tariffs on andincreases quotas for import ofSoviet products ; went into effectJan . 24, 1934.

Protocol re conclusion of new tradeagreement ; pact of Jan . 11 toremain in force until new agree-ment is completed .

Soviet-German Treaty, primarily atrade and commercial agreement .

Protocol of Soviet-German negotia-tions, which defines and developsthe provisions of the 1925 treaty .

Tariff agreement ; reduces duties oncertain Soviet products and placesothers on free list .

A trade agreement between theR .S .F .S .R. and Great Britain ;annulled by Conservative Govern-ment on May 27, 1927.

Provisional trade agreement . OnOctober 17, 1932, required sixmonths' notice was given of theabrogation of agreement .

New trade agreement ; provides re-ciprocal most-favored-nation treat-ment; ratio of Soviet proceedsfrom British trade to paymentsin Great Britain to be graduallyreduced ; came into force March21, 1934-

A customs convention.A treaty on trade and navigation ;

came into force June 25, 1929 .Temporary agreement regulating

transfer of payments for Soviet


PLACE AND DATE OF

COUNTRY

SIGNATURE OR

CONCLUSION

Athens ; May 8, 1934

Italy

Rome ; Feb . 7, 1924

Rome; Aug. z, 1930

Rome; Apr. 28, 1931

Rome; May 6, 1933

Japan

Moscow; Jan . z3, 1928

Moscow, Aug. 13, 1932

Latvia

Moscow; June z, 1927

Moscow; Dec- 4, 1 933

Lithuania

Sept. 24, 1928

Kaunas; Aug . 29, 1931

Norway

Christiania ; Sept. 2,1921

Moscow; Dec. 15, 1925Feb. 24, 1929

exports to Greece ; most-favored-nation clause included.

Trade agreement similar to that ofSept . 8, 1933-

A trade treaty and customs conven-tion .

Commercial agreement containingprovision for government guar-anty up to 75 per cent on creditsfor Soviet orders placed duringthe year ending June 30, 1931 .

Renewal of above agreement tocover additional credits on Sovietorders .

A new commercial treaty and cus-toms convention supplementingthat of 1924, and a new creditagreement ; ratified in Rome Feb .8, 5934.

Fisheries convention, granting Japa-nese subjects fishing concessions inSoviet waters in the Far East ;expires in 1936 .

Fishing agreement, regulating anumber of matters which hadarisen in connection with the con-vention of 1928 .

A trade agreement ; expired inSeptember, 1932 .

New trade agreement to take theplace of the 1927 pact ; cameinto force Jan . 1, 1 934 .

Exchange of notes re mutual appli-cation of the most-favored-nationclause.

Protocol regulating juridical statusof Soviet trade delegation inLithuania.

Provisional trade agreement betweenthe R .S .F .S .R . and Norway.

A treaty on trade and navigation .Convention concerning mutual pro-

tection of industrial property .

Poland

Sweden

Turkey

FOREIGN RELATIONS

Teheran ; March so,Customs convention ; contains most-

favored-nation clause ; operativeuntil May 10, 1936 .

Treaty on commerce and navigation ;ratification documents exchangedin Moscow and treaty becameeffective June zz, 1932 ; term 3years .

Teheran; Aug . 27, 1935 New trade agreement providing forreciprocal increase of trade .

Multilateral protocol regulating thetrade relations between theR .S .F.S.R. and Estonia, Latvia,and Poland .

1929

Teheran ; Oct. 27, 1931

Riga; March 30, 1922

Stockholm ; March 1 S,1924

Moscow ; Oct . 8, 1927

Angora; March 11,

1927

Moscow ; March 16,1931

,Angora ; Jan . 21, 1934

United States

Moscow; July 13, 1935

33

A trade agreement based on theprinciple of reciprocal non-dis-crimination .

Agreement on status of Soviet tradedelegation ; ratified March 31,1928 .

A trade agreement ; came into forceJuly 4, 1927 ; expired October19, 1930-

A treaty of commerce and naviga-tion ; based on most-favored-nationprinciple .

Protocol under which the SovietUnion grants Turkey a credit of$8,000,000 for the purchase ofmachinery in the U .S .S .R .

An exchange of notes providingfor extension of tariff reductionsby the U.S .A. to the U.S .S .R.and for increased purchases bythe latter.

PLACE AND DATE OF

COUNTRY SIGNATURE ORCONCLUSION

Iran(formerlyPersia)

Oslo ; May 29, 1933

Moscow ; Oct. 1, 1927

Trade agreement and credit arrange-ments .

A trade agreement and customs con-vention ; expired on October I,

1929-

34


The above list does not include numerous conventions en-tered into regulating postal, telegraph, railway, and other similarmatters. Agreements providing for government guaranties oncredits to Soviet purchasing organizations, except in the case ofItaly, where such arrangements were made directly with theItalian Government, are also not included in the list . In othercountries such guaranties have been established either under ageneral scheme of government-guaranteed export credits, as inGreat Britain, or by agreements entered into with industrialistsand banks and approved by the government of the respectivecountry, as in Germany and Norway .

IVECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY-NATURAL

RESOURCES

THE enormous territory of the U .S.S.R. (21,230,700 sq .km.) extends in one solid mass across the top of the OldWorld, its west and east borders being about 8,500 km . distantfrom each other, and its greatest width from north to southbeing 4,500 km. A country of such vast area naturally possessesa wide diversity of climate, topography and natural resources .

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

Topography-The European part of the Soviet Union is avast plain lying at an average height of 165 meters above sea-level. The only mountain ranges of any significance are on theouter edges of this plain, viz ., the Urals to the east and theCrimean and Caucasian mountains to the south and southeast .The Urals stretch almost directly north and south for a distanceof nearly 2,500 km ., the highest peak being about 1 .5 km .high. The Crimean mountains are considerably lower and ex-tend almost due east and west . The Caucasian range is alsonearly latitudinal, stretching from the Black to the CaspianSea. Its highest peaks reach 5 km . and over ; nine of themovertop Mont Blanc in Switzerland, the highest being MountElbrus-5.63 km. (18,470 feet) .

The territory of the Asiatic part of the U .S.S.R. also con-sists chiefly of an immense plain with mountain ranges on itseastern and southern borders . The former include the UpperYan range east of the Lena River, the Kolyma range, and theKamchatka mountains. The southern ranges, such as thePamirs in Central Asia, comprise some lofty peaks toweringto a height of over 7 km .

35

36


Rivers-The special characteristics of the country's relief de-termine the nature of its river systems. In contrast to WesternEurope, where the rivers cover but a short distance between themountains in which they rise and the seas into which they fall,the rivers of the U .S .S.R. flow through long stretches of landbefore they reach the sea . They are, consequently, noted fortheir great length, the volume and slow velocity of theirwaters, and their tortuous courses . The longest rivers of theU.S.S.R . are listed below :

It is of special significance for the water transportation ofthe country that in the European part of the Union the sourcesof the various rivers are concentrated near the center of thecountry and thence flow seaward, separating from each otheras they radiate toward the borders . Also the proximity of largerivers one to another makes possible the connecting of the vari-ous river systems by canals. The Volga, Neva and Northern

NAME SECTION OF COUNTRYOUTLET LENGTH

(km .)

AREA OFBASIN(thous.

s q . km .)

Ob Ural and West Sibe-rian Regions

Gulf of Ob(Arctic Ocean) 4,347 2,915

Yenisei West and East Sibe-rian Regions Arctic Ocean 4,010 2,550

Lena Yakut A .S .S .R. Arctic Ocean 4,600 2,380Amur Far Eastern Region Sea of Okhotsk

(Pacific Ocean) 2,870 2,055Volga Central and Eastern

section of European

part Caspian Sea 3,587 1,459Amu-Darya Central Asia Sea of Aral 2,394 465Syr-Darya Central Asia and

Kazakstan Sea of Aral 2,450 233Dnieper Western section of

European part Black Sea 2,283 518Angara (or Up-

per Tunguska) East Siberian Region Yenisei River i,88o

Ural Ural Region andKazakstan Caspian Sea i,8o8 229

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

37

Dvina systems are thus connected, and the Volga and Don sys-tems are now being linked by a canal under construction nearStalingrad . These immense interlinked river systems make upan important part of the national transportation system, despitethe fact that they are ice-bound during the winter months .

The Asiatic part of the Soviet Union is also endowed withmany rivers, some of them-the Ob, Yenisei and Lena-being among the greatest in the world as regards length, areaof river basin and volume of water . Their use for transporta-tion is more limited, since they empty into the Arctic Ocean,which is closed to navigation during the greater part of theyear. However, they constitute an important link betweenNorthern Siberia and Europe . The Northern Sea Route wasopened for systematic shipping via the Kara Sea and Ob andYenisei Rivers in 1921, when shipments amounted to 8,300tons. Since that date development has proceeded steadily, andshipments of furs, timber, etc., handled by the so-called KaraSea Expeditions over this route now exceed 200,000 tons an-nually. As a result of the successful expedition in the summerof 1932 of the ice-breaker Sibiryakov, which attained theNortheast Passage without the need of wintering in the Arctic,an extensive program is being carried out to extend regulartraffic on the Northern Sea Route to the mouth of the LenaRiver. An important step was taken in this direction in thesummer of 1933, when three cargo ships convoyed by the ice-breaker Krassin successfully completed the first commercial ex-pedition from Archangel to the Bay of Tiksa at the mouth ofthe Lena River .

The year 1934 marked further progress in opening up theArctic regions . Over forty vessels participated in the variouscommercial and scientific activities. Nineteen new stationsfrom which radio reports on meteorological conditions areregularly received were established, and a number of educa-

38


tional institutions for training polar explorers, meteorologists,radio operators, etc . are being started. An important event wasthe west bound voyage of the ice-breaker Litke from Vladivos-tok to Murmansk during one navigation season, the first timein the history of Arctic navigation that this has been accomp-lished. The rescue of the 104 marooned members of the ex-pedition of the Chelyuskin, which, crushed by ice packs, finallysank on February 13, centered the attention of the worldon Soviet activities in the Arctic .

A project is now being drawn up for linking the rivers ofthe European section with those of the Asiatic section of theU.S.S.R. The preliminary plans call for canals joining theKama (a tributary of the Volga) with the Chusovaya River,the Chusovaya with the Tura (a tributary of the Tobol), theTobol with the Irtysh, the latter with the Ob, and the Ob, inturn, with the Yenisei. This waterway would be of great eco-nomic significance, as with the Baltic-White Sea canal, recentlycompleted, and the Caspian-Black Sea canal, in project, itwould link up Siberia with European Russia and with the portsof the Black and Baltic Seas. The total potential length ofwaterways in the U .S .S.R. exceeds 3,50,000 km., of whichabout 84,000 km. are at present navigable . By the end of thesecond Five-Year Plan period (1937) it is expected to raisethe latter figure to 101,000 km.

Water Power Resources-The rivers of the Soviet Unionconstitute important potential sources of hydroelectric power . Inthis respect the U.S.S.R. holds first place, possessing about 200million kw ., or one-third of the total world waterpower re-sources. This enormous source of power, however, has as yetbeen utilized to only a fraction of one per cent. The Svir andVolkhov hydroelectric plants, near Leningrad, the DnieperRiver power plant officially opened in October, 1932, thehydroelectric stations already built and under construction in

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY 3 9

the Caucasus and Central Asia, and the Volga project nowunder way are the first important steps in waterpower develop-ment. The rivers of the Asiatic section of the country, whichcomprise three-fourths of the country's water power, have asyet been hardly utilized at all for power purposes . It is esti-mated that the Angara and Yenisei river systems alone canprovide power totaling 129 billion kilowatt-hours annually, orabout fifty times the annual output of Dnieproges . Preliminarysteps are now being taken for the development of the Angarapower project .

Climate ; Soil and Vegetation Belts-The Soviet Union hasa considerable variety of climate ranging from arctic to sub-tropical. As a whole the mean annual temperature is lowerthan that of most European countries . This is due to the factthat the main bulk of the country lies further north (between50 ° and 70° north latitude) and is situated at a great distancefrom seas which would have a moderating influence on theclimate. The continental nature of the country makes forgreater dryness, a more severe winter and hotter summer thanin most countries of Western Europe .

The southern part of the Crimea, Western Transcaucasiaand the Ferghana Valley in Central Asia, being protected fromthe cold winds of the North by mountain ranges, have a warm,mild, subtropical climate with relatively small fluctuations be-tween summer and winter temperatures .

The chief soil and vegetation belts lie in broad solid stripsfrom west to east. They are, beginning with the northernmostbelt: (s) the tundra (marshy plains bordering on the Arctic),which occupies approximately s¢ per cent of the entire area ofthe country ; (2) the forest belt, covering about 50 per cent ;(3) the wooded steppe belt (mixed wooded and prairie coun-try), constituting 7 per cent ; (¢) the prairie steppe or grass-land belt, making up over 15 per cent . In addition, there are


two belts which are confined largely to the extreme southernand southeastern sections of the European part and the south-western section of the Asiatic part of the country (Kazakstanand Central Asia) . These are : (5) desert and semidesert graz-ing belt (9 per cent) ; and (6) subtropical belt (5 per cent) .

FUR AND TIMBER RESOURCES

The tundra and the northern forests are the main habitatof the fur-bearing animals. The U.S .S.R. is one of the world'sleading fur-producing and -exporting countries . It ranks second,following the United States, in output of furs, producing one-fifth of the world total . It supplies one-fourth of the furs puton the world market, and for many years has been the largestexporter of certain varieties, such as squirrel, white fox, ermineand Persian lamb. A comparatively new industry in the SovietFar North is deer breeding .

The forests of the Soviet Union are the most extensive inthe world, covering about 950 million hectares, one-third of theworld total and half of the entire forest area in the temperatezone. As regards coniferous species, which are of leading im-portance in the world lumber trade, the Soviet Union has ap-proximately 470 million hectares, or 44 per cent of the worldtotal . Pine, larch, fir and spruce are the principal species in theconiferous group . While coniferous forests predominate, thereare also large tracts of valuable deciduous trees (birch, aspen,oak, walnut, etc .), especially in the Caucasus, where thesespecies Occupy 78 per cent of the total timber area . Despite thefact that only about 200 million hectares, or 21 per cent of theentire forest area of the country, are at present under exploita-tion, the Soviet Union ranks first in the output of timber andsecond, after Canada, in timber exports . Spruce lumber andpulpwood constitute the main items among Soviet timber ex-ports, and the exceptionally high quality of these products isrecognized on the world market .

NATURAL RESOURCES 41

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES

In a country as large as the Soviet Union there is naturallyan abundance of land suitable for agriculture . The continentalcharacter of the country and the existence of extensive areasof smooth plains make it especially adaptable for the productionof the world's great staple crops-grain, forage and fiber . Thenorthern location of a considerable part of the U .S .S.R. is not adeterrent to the development of agriculture in general nor towheat production in particular. It is well established that thehighest yields and best grades of wheat in the world are ob-tained from such northern semiarid grassland areas as are soextensive in the U .S .S.R. In recent years the Soviet Union hasfound that wheat can be grown successfully not only in thegrassland belt but even in sections as far north as Karelia(north of Leningrad) .

The relatively dry climate, level plains, and productive soilof the steppe or grassland belt (present center of grain produc-tion) of the Soviet Union make it practically ideal for large-scale, mechanized grain farming . In this belt there are ap-proximately 190-200 million hectares of black soil (first-gradewheat land), and another 150 million hectares of chestnut soiland inferior chernozem (black soil) . Together these make upabout 350 million hectares (865 million acres), almost fourtimes the area of comparable wheat land in the United States,according to figures cited by Mr . C. F. Marbut, 1 soil scientistof the United States Department of Agriculture .

While grain production, primarily wheat, plays the leadingrole in the grassland belt, stock-raising (cattle, hogs, and sheep)likewise is of major importance . The northern part of theEuropean section of this belt and a considerable portion of thewooded steppe belt are utilized for the raising of the followingindustrial crops-sugar beets, soy beans, sunflower seeds, hemp,

1 C. F. Marbut, "Russia and the United States in the World's Wheat Market" in Th.

Caog, hind Rseism, January, 1931, p. 10 .


kenaf, etc. Fruit- and vegetable-raising is carried on in both thesteppe and wooded steppe belts, particularly near the large citiesand industrial centers .

The southern part of the forest belt is utilized as a flax anddairy region . This region is quite broad in its western or Euro-pean section, extending roughly between Leningrad and Sverd-lovsk on the north and Minsk, Moscow, and Kazan on thesouth, but narrows down considerably in its eastern or Siberiansection. The latter section is not as yet developed to any greatextent, but the European section is already an important factorin the flax and dairy industries .

The arid pasture-lands of the desert belt, which cover largeareas in Kazakstan and Central Asia, have been utilized as yetto a comparatively small extent but are suitable for the raisingof beef cattle, sheep and goats on an extensive scale . A portionof these lands can and is being made available for cultivationby the establishment of modern irrigation systems .

The subtropical belt-including Southern Crimea, portionsof Transcaucasia and the cotton regions of Soviet Central Asia-is utilized for the growing of tea, tobacco, citrus fruits,grapes and cotton . In addition to the latter crops steps are beingtaken in Central Asia to develop the growing on a commercialscale of olives, sweet potatoes, pomegranates, pistachios, Japa-nese persimmons, sugar cane and various medicinal herbs . Ex-tension of the area adaptable to the raising of subtropical cropsand the organization of large-scale production of such crops,especially tea and citrus fruits, has constituted one of the majortasks in connection with the specialization of agriculture .

Grain production is being shifted to the North, the aim beingnot only to make room in the southernmost districts for sub-tropical plants but to devote a larger share of the grain beltproper to the cultivation of industrial crops (cotton, sugar beets,etc.) and rubber-bearing plants . In connection with this policy


scientific research is being conducted on such problems as theselection of new varieties of hardy grain capable of ripening inthe short growing season of the North . The search for newvarieties not only of grain but of many other agricultural cropswhich may be suitable for commercial cultivation in the varioussections of the U .S .S.R. is being carried out on a world-widescale under the direction of the All-Union Institute of Plant-Breeding at Leningrad, headed by the renowned Soviet genet-icist, N . I. Vavilov. The late I. V. Michurin, famous Soviethorticulturist, developed over 300 new varieties of fruits, manyof them capable of being grown in severe climates where thiswas formerly impossible .

In an account of the agricultural resources of the U .S .S.R .mention should be made of certain native plants which havecommercial value . The most important are the various rubber-bearing plants discovered in recent years . Among these tau-sagiz, containing from 30 to 40 per cent rubber, holds the lead-ing place. Its native habitat is Kazakstan and Central Asia, butsince its discovery as a rubber-bearing plant in 1929 its cultiva-tion has been extended to other parts of the country . The areaunder tau-sagiz is now about io,ooo hectares, but, accordingto preliminary schedules, it is expected to reach 200,000 hec-tares by 1937 . One hectare of tau-sagiz in its third year yieldsabout one ton of pure rubber. The Crimean dandelion, orkrim-sagiz, discovered in 1932, has a somewhat lower rubbercontent, but due to the quality and easy extraction of the rub-ber, this plant is considered to be also of great industrial value .

To give an idea of the possibilities for the expansion of agri-culture, it suffices to note that the total area under cultivationat the present time, about 130 million hectares, constitutes only12 per cent of the entire area suitable for agriculture (approxi-mately 1,100 million hectares) . Fallow land now embracesfrom 40 to 50 million hectares, and pasture land about 200


million hectares. Even if these are added to the sown area,there still remain unutilized over 700 million hectares of agri-cultural land . Moreover, there are in addition some boo millionhectares of land which have not yet been explored or requirereclamation work and some of which may be found or made tobe suitable for agriculture .

Considerable work is being done both in exploration andreclamation. The government has founded a special institutefor the investigation of new areas for agricultural purposes .Swamps are being drained, arid lands are being supplied withmodern irrigation systems, and the less fertile lands with in-creasing quantities of mineral fertilizers . Under the Sovietregime the drained area has been increased by almost 3 millionhectares (the entire drained area before the war totaled I mil-lion hectares) . The area of irrigated lands was increased by1,5oo,000 hectares from 1928 to 1932, bringing it to a totalof 5,700,000 hectares. According to Prof . Vavilov, it has beendefinitely established that the application of mineral fertilizersto the sandy-clay soil (podzol) of the forest belt makes it ex-ceptionally fertile .

The Volga power project, already mentioned, will make pos-sible the irrigation of some 1o million acres of land, which willbe devoted to wheat, alfalfa, and other crops. The policy forthe present (second) Five-Year Plan is, however, to proceedslowly as regards increasing the sown area, and to place theprincipal stress upon raising yields by improved cultivation ofthe area already under crops .

MINERAL RESOURCESThe U.S.S.R. is amply provided with the mineral resources

necessary for the successful carrying out of its industrializationprogram and for the unrestricted growth of its nationaleconomy, according to Soviet authorities .

As a result of the work of the All-Union Geological Survey,

NATURAL RESOURCES

which progressed with particular rapidity during the period ofthe first Five-Year Plan, over 7 million square kilometers, ornearly one-third of the entire territory of the Soviet Union,had been surveyed by the end of 1932 and the known reservesof basic minerals had mounted to totals many times as great asin 1917. Under the tsarist regime geological exploration was ina very backward state ; by the end of the 35-year period fromthe founding of the Geological Committee in 1882 to 1917only 1 .8 million sq. km. of European Russia had been imper-fectly surveyed and Asiatic Russia was left uncharted. Prewarestimates of the country's mineral resources, consequently, rep-resented only a fraction of the actual reserves . The followingtable shows the extent of increase in the known supplies of thebasic minerals since 1917 and the ratio of present known re-serves to total world resources :

45

2 Exclusive of Kursk magnetic anomaly and the Krivoy Rog iron ore quartzite deposits .By Jan. 1, 1934, this figure had reached 10,303,400,000 tons. See section on Iron Ore .

a Inclusive of above deposits .4 Exclusive of the newly discovered Blyava deposits. See section on Non-Ferrous Metals .

Coal-The Soviet Union possesses, according to latest es-timates, 1,200 billion tons of coal, or 15 per cent of total worldresources. In rank it comes third, preceded by the United States(3,536 billion tons and Canada (1,361 billion) . However,since brown coal and lignite constitute over 70 per cent of the

1917(TERRITORYOF U .S .S .R.)

JAN . I1929

SHARE OFWORLD

JAN . I

RESOURCES RANKIN

WORLD1933 (in per

cent)'n thousand metric tonsCoal 130,500,000 553,700,000 1,200,000,000 15 .0 3Peat - - 65,000,000 75 .0 1

Oil - 2,427,000 26 .0 I

Iron Ore z,o56,ooo 6,174,000 9,447, 200 30 .0 2

Iron Ore (includ-ing quartzites) 259,500,000 ° 55 .0 1

Manganese 168,ooo 167,000 588,700 65 .4 1

Copper 1,392 1,630 1 5, 8 50 ' 13 .6 -Lead 579 1,000 3,500 8 .75 -Zinc I,29z 1,500 7,300 13 .2


Canadian reserves and only about 2o per cent of the Soviet re-serves, the latter ranks second to the U .S. in actual energy units .

In European Russia the most important coal basin is theDonetz (Ukraine), with resources now estimated at over 70billion tons. This basin has supplied the bulk of Soviet coal out-put. The other two established coal basins are the Moscow, withreserves of 5 .9 billion tons and the Ural (Kizel, Cheliabinsk,etc.), with 4 .5 billion tons. Much of the Moscow coal andpart of the Ural coal is lignite ; the Donetz coal, on the otherhand, is high-grade bituminous and anthracite . A new coal basinwas discovered in 1924 in the northern Urals, the PechoraBasin, and the first mine was sunk in the fall of 1932 . Thesedeposits cover a large area, and have not yet been thoroughlyexplored . Preliminary estimates place its reserves at about25o billion tons. An expedition of the Academy of Scienceduring the summer of 1933 made a special study of the re-sources of this district and of the possibilities of railway con-struction to link it up with the central districts of EuropeanRussia. The opening (in June, 1933) of the Baltic-White SeaCanal establishes a direct water route from Leningrad to Arch-angel and other northern points, thereby shortening the dis-tance by water between Leningrad and the Pechora Basin byabout ten days .

In Kazakstan, which adjoins the Ural Region on the south,a rich, new coal basin, the Karaganda, was opened up for ex-ploitation in 1931 . Its reserves are now estimated at over 20billion tons of high-grade coal, some of which is suitable forcoking purposes . The latter factor makes this basin of particularsignificance, since it provides the nearest supply of good cokingcoal for the Magnitogorsk steel mill and other large plants inthe southern Urals. Karaganda lies only half as far away as theKuznetz coal basin, upon which it was originally expected thatthese enterprises would need to rely for coking coal .


Asiatic Russia proper-West and East Siberia, Yakutia andthe Far Eastern Region-possesses extensive reserves of coal,much of it as yet unexploited . One of the largest basins, theKuznetz in West Siberia, with reserves totaling 40o billiontons, has, however, been undergoing intensive developmentduring recent years, and is expected eventually to rival theDonetz Basin in coal output . Other smaller deposits in WestSiberia, including the Minusinsk and Chulym-Yenisei Basins,are estimated to total 34 billion tons. Just east of these deposits,in the southern part of East Siberia, lie the Kan and Irkutskcoal basins, possessing reserves estimated at 4o and 58 billiontons, respectively . The Minusinsk and Irkutsk deposits are al-ready under partial exploitation .

In the northern part of East Siberia lies possibly the largestcoal basin in the world, covering an area of 1,000,000 sq. km.-the Tungus Basin. Only a beginning has been made at sur-veying its resources, but these are now estimated at not lessthan 50o billion tons . Still further to the east, in Yakutia, arethe Lena and Aldan deposits, estimated at from 6o to ioo bil-lion tons, while recent discoveries in the Far Eastern Region(the Bureya coal basin on the Amur River, with deposits es-timated at i io billion tons) have brought the total of its re-serves up to a minimum of 20o billion tons. The Tungus andYakutia deposits are not yet under exploitation, but scientificexpeditions are now making further studies of the extent oftheir resources and possibilities for their development .

Coal is also found in smaller quantities in various other locali-ties, such as Central Asia, Transcaucasia, and more recentlyupon the Kola Peninsula (on the White Sea) . Exploration workin both old and new districts is constantly in progress .Peat-The Soviet Union possesses about 65 billion tons of

peat, three-quarters of the world's known peat reserves . Thedeposits lie for the most part in the central and northern sec-


tions of European Russia and in Siberia . They constitute animportant source of cheap fuel for power and industrial plants .

Oil Shale-Another source of low-cost fuel is oil shale, thereserves of which in the U .S.S.R. are estimated to total 8 .7 bil-lion tons. The principal deposits are located in the Leningrad,Lower and Middle Volga and Gorky regions .

Oil-The U.S.S.R. oil resources are now estimated by theSoviet petroleum administration at 3 billion tons . Of the totalreserves about half is to be found in the old established fieldsof Baku (Transcaucasia) and Grozny (North Caucasus) andthe other half in new districts .

In prewar days the Baku and Grozny fields were exploitedin a wasteful and primitive manner ; during the civil war manyof the wells were flooded or set on fire . As a result, when theSoviet Government took over the oil industry in 1920, the oil-bearing areas which had been tapped in the prewar period werepractically exhausted. However, the deep drilling and extensivedevelopment work carried on under the Soviet regime haverevealed abundant stores of oil riches in these old fields . Thedeep drilling has tapped the lower oil horizons in the old sec-tions; exploration work has extended the boundaries of bothfields to include new sections of rich oil-bearing land. Amongthe new areas in the Baku field are such big producers as the

• Kala, Puta and Lok-Batan areas, the latter of which boasts theworld's fourth most powerful gusher, which broke into actionthe latter part of May, 1933, flowing 15-20,000 tons (140,000barrels) of high-grade crude per day. The Lok-Batan arealies in a region of mud volcanoes, formerly considered to beindicative of absence of oil deposits . The Lok-Batan area alonecovers Boo hectares, with reserves calculated as sufficient tojustify the drilling of 8oo wells. In August, 1933, the first oilwell in the world to be drilled in the open sea was brought in300 meters from shore off the Apsheron peninsula (Baku


district) . According to latest estimates the total oil reserves ofthe Baku district amount to not less than 1 .2 billion tons andthose of Grozny to over ioo million tons .

Extensive exploration of other regions throughout theU.S.S.R. has also been carried on and has resulted in the dis-covery of many new deposits . The most important are those inthe Ural-Emba district. The Emba fields (Kazakstan, at thenorth end of the Caspian Sea), where formerly only onedeposit was known, now embrace over 6o deposits covering anarea of more than 15o,ooo sq . km. The Emba oil reservesalone are now estimated at half a billion tons . Further north,at Sterlitamak in Bashkiria (Southern Urals), a number ofpowerful gushers were discovered in 1932, giving evidence ofrich deposits. Still further north, near the shores of the WhiteSea, extensive deposits were discovered along the Ukhta River(Pechora district) . These are the outstanding discoveries in theUral-Emba district, but lesser deposits were also found betweenthe Emba and Sterlitamak fields, and at various points along thewestern slopes of the Urals from Sterlitamak to the extremenorth. It is now the belief of prominent Soviet geologists thatthere is a wide oil-bearing belt extending all the way from theCaspian to the White Sea . That the southern half of this beltmay even extend westward well toward the center of the Euro-pean part of the Soviet Union is evidenced by the discovery ofnumerous gas wells and other signs of oil in the Samara dis-trict of the Middle Volga Region and at numerous pointsthroughout the Lower Volga Region down to Astrakhan .

Other oil districts where important new deposits have beenreported include : Maikop and Daghestan (North Caucasus),Georgia (Transcaucasia), Sakhalin Island and KamchatkaPeninsula (Far Eastern Region), and Turkmenistan, Tad-zhikistan and Uzbekistan (Central Asia) .Iron Ore-The total known reserves of iron ore in the


U.S.S.R ., including the Kursk magnetic anomaly and KrivoyRog iron ore quartzite deposits, are estimated at about 260billion tons or more than the total world supply in 1926 (243 .4billion tons) .' Excluding the Kursk deposits and the KrivoyRog quartzites, the Soviet Union has, according to latest esti-mates, 10 .3 billion tons of rich iron ore, amply sufficent forits industrialization program (the United States reserves areestimated at 9.85 billion tons) . Of the total rich iron ore 5 .5billion tons are brown ore, 2 .4 magnetite, and 1 .6 hematiteore .

The known iron ore reserves of the U.S.S.R ., as of Janu-ary 1, 1933, are distributed as follows :

RESERVES PREDOMINANT IRON CONTENT(bill. tons) TYPE OF ORE

(per cent)

0 Estimate of 0. R. Kuhn, Gtrman scientist, as cited by Academician I . M . Gubkin .

I . Southern Ukraine and CrimeaKrivoy Rog (Ukraine) 1 .2 Red hematite 60-70Kerch (Crimea) Z-7 Brown 30-40

z. Ural-Kuxnetz AreaNorthern and Central Urals 0 .7 Mixed 30-60Southern Urals 1 .0

Bakal

0 .1 Brown 45-5zMagnitnaya

0.5 Magnetite 30-60Orsk-Khalilovo

0.4 Brown and Red 40Kuznetz Basin (West Siberia) 0 .4 Magnetite 40

3 . Central RussiaTula, Vyksa, Lipetsk, and

Khoper deposits 1 .4 Brown 30-40Kursk (Central Black SoilRegion) 0.3 Red Hematite 55-67

4 . East Siberia 0 .7 Mixed 35-60$ . Miscellaneous

1 .1 Mixed 30-65

Caucasus, Northern Region,Kola Peninsula, Far East-ern Region, Yakutia, etc.

Total (excluding quartzites) 9 .5

KrivoyQuartzites

Rog (Ukraine) 50.0 Quartzite 30-50Kursk (Central Black Soil Region) 200 .0 Quartzite 30-5o


While the Kursk district, with its immense reserves of over20o billion tons, will eventually be one of the principal metal-lurgical centers of the U.S .S.R ., the country depends at pres-ent chiefly upon the two great metallurgical bases now underexploitation-the Southern Ukraine and Ural-Kuznetz . Theformer has supplied over three-fifths of the iron ore output ofthe Soviet Union, but by the end of the present Five-Year Planit is expected that it will yield first place to the second greatmetallurgical base, the Ural-Kuznetz .

In addition to the 1 .2 billion tons of rich ore at Krivoy Rog,which are now the main source of supply for the southernSoviet steel mills, there are estimated to be about 5o billion tonsof iron ore quartzites at Krivoy Rog and 2 .7 billion tons ofbrown ore at Kerch . While these latter two sources of supplyconsist of lower grade ore, experiments in their concentrationhave proven successful and their commercial utilization wascommenced in 1932 .

In the Ural-Kuznetz area the largest ore deposits now underexploitation are those at Magnitnaya or Magnet Mountain,estimated to contain about 46o million tons of high-grade ore .These deposits were first worked in 1929, and have consti-tuted the chief supply for the furnaces of the two new giantsteel mills of the Ural-Kuznetz combine-Magnitogorsk(Ural Region) and Stalinsk, formerly Kuznetz (West Sibe-rian Region) . The discovery in 1932-33 of 28o million tonsof ore in the Gorno-Shori district (about 125 miles fromStalinsk) will eventually make unnecessary the transportationof Magnitnaya ore to Stalinsk . The deposits of the Gorno-Shori district alone are considered adequate to supply two orthree large steel plants of the size of the Stalinsk mill .

The Kursk magnetic anomaly was discovered in 1874, butit was not until about 1925 that deep drilling carried on bygeological parties revealed the presence of immense ore de-

52


posits at a depth of from 95 to 150 meters . Extensive drillingwork, however, was begun only in 1931-32 . On the basis ofthese drillings it was estimated that these deposits containednot tens of billions of tons of ore, as originally believed, butover 20o billion tons. Recent surveys also indicate that a greatershare of these deposits than was hitherto supposed consist ofhigh-grade ore . Thus, the noted Soviet geologist, AcademicianI. M. Gubkin, reported in November, 1932, that in a smallarea of ten square kilometers, constituting only 1 .7 per centof the total area of these deposits, 250 million tons of rich oreof the Krivoy Rog type, with an iron content ranging from

55 to 67 per cent, had already been revealed. It is now be-lieved that the entire area contains not less than 6 billion tonsof such rich ore . Much of the quartzite ore at Kursk alreadytested has been found to contain from 45 to 50 per cent ofiron, and is considered suitable for industrial exploitation . Thelocation of the Kursk deposits in the center of the Europeanportion of the Soviet Union and about midway between theMoscow and Donetz coal basins is exceptionally favorable fortheir development. The new Moscow-Donetz railway passesthrough the district, providing convenient transportation . Thefirst mine, the construction of which was commenced in 1932,produced the first ore from these deposits in April, 1 933 .

The iron ore reserves of other sections of the U .S.S.R. haveonly begun to be studied. However, recent discoveries in theEast Siberian and Far Eastern Regions have brought theirtotal known deposits up to about 3 billion tons each . Thebulk of the East Siberian deposits are located in the immediatevicinity of the Irkutsk coal basin and the sites of the futureAngara River power plants, thus making feasible the buildingup of a new iron and steel center at Irkutsk . As a result of therecent discoveries of large deposits of iron ore and coking coal


in the Far Eastern Region studies are now under way lookingtoward the establishment of a metallurgical center there .

Districts of secondary importance as regards iron ore re-serves include the Caucasus, the Kola Peninsula, the NorthernRegion, Yakutia and Kazakstan . Recent discoveries of de-posits in various sections of the Caucasus and at MoncheLake (Kola Peninsula) have raised the total known reservesof these regions to 200 million and 400 million tons, respec-tively. These deposits are to be utilized for serving importantlocal needs-the Caucasus deposits the metal requirements ofthe local oil industry and the Kola deposits the needs of themachine-building industry of Leningrad .

Manganese-The U.S.S.R. possesses 589 million tons ofmanganese, or about two-thirds of the entire world supply(goi million tons) . The famous Chiatury deposits (Georgia,Transcaucasia) and the Nikopol deposits (Ukraine) are theprincipal ones under exploitation and provide the bulk of theoutput. Recent geological exploration has revealed new de-posits in the Ukraine, the Urals, Bashkiria, the North Caucasus,Kazakstan and West Siberia . Steps are being taken to developmanganese mining in the new regions, especially those adja-cent to the big steel mills at Magnitogorsk and Stalinsk, inorder to provide the latter with a more convenient source ofsupply. Now these mills have to transport their manganesefrom the Ukraine. The Chiatury deposits are worked almostexclusively for the export trade. The ore from these depositsis of very high quality, containing for the most part from 50to 6o per cent of metallic manganese .

Nonferrous Metals-In tsarist days, when about 9o per centof all mining of nonferrous minerals was controlled by for-eigners and geological surveying was extremely limited, it wasconsidered that Russia was a second-rate country as regardsreserves of nonferrous metals. Geological surveys during the

5 4 HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

past few years, however, have shown that the Soviet Unionhas considerable reserves of these metals . Its share, on Janu-ary I, 1933, of total world resources of lead amounted to 9per cent and of copper and zinc to over 13 per cent. The dis-covery was reported in May, 1933, of immense deposits ofcopper pyrites at Blyava (Middle Volga Region), which, ac-cording to Soviet geologists, may make the Soviet Union oneof the leading countries in the world as regards copperresources.

The Blyava deposits are considered of great significance,because of their location in the center of the country and inthe immediate proximity of rail and water routes and fuel re-sources. They lie 30o km. from Orenburg on the Samara-Zlatoust railway. They are known to extend over a largesurface, only part of which has been carefully explored . Pre-liminary estimates set the total reserves at 150 million tons ofcopper pyrites, under an iron "cap" containing 12 million tonsof ore. The copper content is reported to average 4 per centand to run as high as 20 per cent . Gold, silver and platinumare also reported to be present in high proportions . Steps arebeing taken to develop these deposits .

Prior to the discovery of the Blyava deposits the largest cop-per deposits in the Soviet Union were those at Kounrad, onLake Balkhash, Kazakstan . These were discovered in 1928 inconnection with the construction of the Turksib railway . Animmense copper-mining works and smelter are under construc-tion at Kounrad, and, while considerable progress has beenmade, construction has been retarded due to difficulties in trans-portation of materials and supplies. Eventually, however, Ka-zakstan is expected to hold a leading place in copper output . Ofthe total reserves of . 15 .85 million tons (as of January 1,1 933), over half (8 .7 million tons) are to be found in Kazak-Stan. The Ural Region, with 3 .8 million tons, is next in im-


portance, and, as its deposits have been developed most exten-sively, they have provided the bulk of the copper output of thecountry .

Among other sections where recent geological surveys havedisclosed important copper deposits are : Almalyk (Uzbekistan,Central Asia), Agarak (Transcaucasia), the Minusinsk districtof West Siberia, and several districts in Bashkiria (southernUrals) .

Kazakstan also leads as regards deposits of lead and zinc, theAltai and Kara-Tau mountains in southern Kazakstan beingespecially rich in supplies of these minerals. Valuable depositsare also reported in the Urals, West and East Siberia, NorthCaucasus, Central Asia and the Far Eastern Region .

Nickel, tin, tungsten and aluminum were not produced atall in prewar Russia, and mercury only in insignificant quan-tities. In recent years deposits of ores yielding these mineralshave been located, and production on a factory scale has begun .The recently discovered deposits of bauxite (chiefly in theUrals, where reserves were estimated in 1933 at 9 milliontons), kaolin, alunite, nepheline, etc ., constitute sources of rawmaterial for the aluminum industry .

Known reserves of tin were estimated to total 9,522,000tons in 1934, as compared with 3,210,000 tons in 1929 .Deposits of nickel, also practically unknown before the war,totaled in 1934 (including cobalt) 1,054,000 tons as against381,000 tons in 1929 .

Even before the war Russia was a leading producer ofprecious metals, such as gold, silver and platinum . Extensiveprospecting during the Soviet regime has substantially increasedthe known supplies of these metals . According to Soviet geolo-gists, the U .S.S.R. possesses the largest gold reserves of anycountry in the world. A number of important new depositshave been opened up in Yakutia ; the Lena gold field in this

56


region is reputedly one of the richest in the world, both asregards extent of reserves and average content of metal. Otherrich fields, both of vein and placer gold, have been uncoveredin the Far East and Eastern Siberia . The principal new minesof ore gold, the production of which is outstripping that ofplacer works, are located in Kazakstan, Western Siberia, theTransbaikal district and the Northern Urals. The great orereserves of Kazakstan were uncovered only during the Sovietregime. Other old and new districts are under exploitation inthe Altai, the North Caucasus and elsewhere .

In recent years Soviet geologists and scientists have discov-ered the ores and worked out the processes for the production ofsuch rare metals as cadmium, tantalum, gallium, molybdenum,titanium, vanadium, radium, uranium and beryllium .

Nonmetallic minerals-Exploration work in recent years hasalso revealed the presence of large stores of various nonmetallicminerals, many of which were unknown in prewar Russia .Among the more important of these are potash, apatite, phos-phorite, magnesite, asbestos, graphite, mica, barite, chalk,shungite s and diatomaceous earth . According to estimates ofSoviet geologists the Soviet Union holds first place with respectto reserves of a number of these minerals.

The following table shows the growth in known reserves ofsome non-metallic minerals since 1 9 1 3 :

a A carbon compound found in the Shunga District of Karelia, the mining of which wasbegun in 1932 . It is used in the manufacture of electrical appliances, as a substitute forgraphite, and as a fuel.

1913 1929

1932 1934Mineral (in thousand metric tons)Magnesite . . . . . . . . 34.6 IS4.1 252Bauxite . . . . . . . . 1,815 4,957 8,480Asbestos . . . . . . . . 3,744 9,031 16,562Potassium Salts . . . . . . . . 41,000 6,6oo,ooo 16,000,000Apatite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 530,000Sulphur 714 614 12,137 13,888Graphite 3,184 31,696 544,262 1,085,427Mica (tons) no data 1,815 4,957 8,480


The potash reserves, mainly at Solikamsk (Ural Region),are estimated at 16 billion tons or about 83 per cent of worldresources. Secondary deposits have been discovered in the Mid-dle Volga Region, Kazakstan and Turkmenistan (CentralAsia). The Soviet reserves are considered ample to supply thedemand of the Soviet Union for many years to come and toleave a surplus for export . Another recent discovery is that ofthe Khibini apatite deposits on the Kola Peninsula, with re-serves estimated at 530 million tons . Total deposits of phos-phorites and apatites in the U .S.S.R. are estimated at 16.4billion tons, about 6o per cent of the world supply. Theseminerals are used chiefly in the manufacture of mineral fer-tilizers. Soviet resources of graphite were estimated at 20.4million tons, as of Jan . 1, 1932 .

At Satka and Khalilovo in the southern Urals are large de-posits of magnesite ore, with reserves estimated at several hun-dred million tons, while smaller deposits have been reported inother sections also. One of the most recent reported discov-eries was of rich deposits in the Biro-Bidzhan district of theFar Eastern Region . In addition, the Solikamsk potash depositsserve as a source of magnesium salts, and numerous saline lakescontain unestimated reserves of these salts .

The principal asbestos deposits are found in the Urals, andthese, both on account of quantity and quality, rank amongthe most important in the world. They supply high-grade asbes-tos for domestic consumption and for export. The Soviet Unionranks second after Canada in the production of asbestos .

The Soviet Union possesses considerable reserves of numer-ous other minerals, such as salt, soda, chromium, Glauber'ssalt, borax, corundum, fluorite, gypsum, semi-precious andprecious stones, (topaz, emeralds, garnet, aquamarine, etc .)and various building materials (stone, marble, granite, cement,sand, gravel, clay, lime, etc .) Known reserves of chrome ore


were estimated at about 15,000,000 tons at the end of 1 934,as compared with less than two million tons in 1927 .

State appropriations for geological exploration in 1932amounted to 140 million rubles, as compared with 1o .5 millionrubles in 1928 and not over 550,000 rubles annually beforethe war. Including the expenditures of various economic or-ganizations in searching for natural resources, the total amountspent for this purpose in 1932 approximated 500 million rubles.The staff of the All-Union Geological Survey includes anengineering-technical personnel of about 6,ooo . In addition tothis group of specialists over 100,000 workers are employed ingeological prospecting .

In 1932 the Geological Survey sent out close to 2,500 explo-ration groups. Special geological prospecting is also carried ondirectly by the various industrial organizations, especially in thefield of coal, oil, nonferrous metals, gold, etc . Worker touristsare encouraged to do amateur prospecting, and are reportedto have made some worth-while discoveries . In prewar Russiaonly about 8 per cent of the total area was explored, and evenat the beginning of the first Five-Year Plan only 11 .5 percent. Extensive work during the past five years has raised thispercentage to 36. Two-thirds of the territory of the SovietUnion still remains unprospected .

ALLOCATION OF PRODUCTIVE FORCES

Under the Soviet system, wherein land, forests, minerals,etc., are nationalized, all natural wealth is concentrated in thehands of the state and its exploration and exploitation areplanned and carried out on a nation-wide scale . "Planned eco-nomic geography" has become an integral and important partof the state planning system . "Planned economic geography,"in Soviet terminology, means that the natural resources of thevarious regions and sections of the U.S.S.R. are studied, and


industry and agriculture allocated accordingly . In localitieswhere cheap power is available or great stores of mineralwealth are found new industrial centers or combines, such asthe Dnieper and Ural-Kuznetz combines, have been organized,each comprising an entire group of enterprises developing andworking up the various products and by-products of the region .Similarly, the various agricultural crops are more and morebeing scientifically allocated to those sections best adapted totheir growth, by reason of soil, climate, location, etc . Thus, allsections which are suitable, or can be made suitable by irriga-tion, fertilization, etc ., for the raising of industrial and sub-tropical crops are being devoted exclusively to such crops . Oneof the purposes of building the Turkestan-Siberian railway wasto provide a means of sending Siberian grain to the cottonregions of Central Asia, thereby making it unnecessary to growgrain on valuable cotton land . Moreover, in accordance withthe policy of bringing industry near to the sources of rawmaterial, textile mills are being erected in the regions wherecotton, silk, wool, etc ., are produced.

Before the war practically the entire industrial developmentin Russia was confined to a few centers in the European partof the country . The Urals, Siberia and Central Asia com-bined accounted for less than ten per cent of the entire indus-trial output . Under the policy pursued by the Soviet Govern-ment of developing the natural resources of all parts of thecountry and accelerating the raising of the economic and cul-tural level of the backward outlying districts, capital invest-ments in the Eastern regions are increasing much more rapidlythan in the older industrial sections . This is reflected in thegradual shifting of the center of gravity of industrial output.For instance, before the war the Donetz Basin accounted for87 per cent of the total coal output ; by 1932 its proportionhad been reduced to 68 per cent. Whereas the southern regions

6o


in 1913 supplied 74 per cent of the pig iron output, in 1 933this had been reduced to 6i per cent .

During the period of the second Five-Year Plan this ten-dency will be accentuated . About one-half of the total in-vestments in heavy industry are to go to the Eastern sectionsof the country . Similarly, a considerable proportion of theenterprises in the light and food industries are to be constructednear the sources of agricultural raw materials in the outlyingregions (cotton mills in Central Asia and Transcaucasia, sugarrefineries in West Siberia, etc .)

V

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

THE FIRST TEN YEARS (1918-1928)

BEFORE the war Russia was essentially a backward agriculturalcountry, with very low standards of living for the great ma-jority of the people. Industry, measured by Western Europeanstandards, was undeveloped, production in most branches beingconsiderably below that of the industrially advanced nationsof the world . In 1913, the year in which Russia reached itshighest prewar economic development, agriculture still ac-counted for more than half of the national income. Althoughin that year the larger industrial enterprises employed aboutthree million workers (in the present territory of the SovietUnion), the basic industries were still in their infancy, the cot-ton textile industry alone having attained an extensive growth .Before the war Russia imported not only machinery, even ofthe simplest types, but also a very large part of its raw materials(cotton, nonferrous metals, iron, etc.) . Russia's greatest coaldeposits in Siberia remained practically untouched, the oil in-dustry was confined almost exclusively to the Baku region, andonly a bare start had been made in prospecting the vast mineralresources of the country .

Before the war Russia exported very large quantities ofagricultural products, the exports of grain alone attaining insome years as much as 1 3 million tons. This circumstance, ac-companied by a level of per capita wheat consumption amongthe lowest in the world, was primarily responsible for the com-paratively large proportions (nearly three billion rubles in1913) which the foreign trade of pre-war Russia attained .

6i

6z


Russian industry, agriculture and transportation declinedgreatly during the war, and by 1917 were in a condition ap-proaching collapse. The civil war served to accelerate economicdisruption, with the result that by 1920-21 industry was prac-tically at a standstill, while agriculture was fast approachingthe condition which, coupled with a severe drought, precipi-tated the famine of 1921-22 . In 1920-21 grain productionwas only slightly over half and industrial output less than one-fifth of the prewar figure . Coal production was 25 per cent,iron ore 1.5 per cent, pig iron 2 .5 per cent and cotton cloth 6per cent of the 1913 figures.

The upbuilding of the national economy began in 1922 .By the year 1927, practically all branches of the nationaleconomy-industry, agriculture, transportation, commodityturnover-either exceeded or closely approximated the prewarlevel. The national income totaled 15 .2 billion prewar rubles,as against 14 billion in 1914 . The country had enteredupon the period of restoration with not only an industrial out-put scarcely one-fifth that of 1913 but with industry's basiccapital sorely depleted. A large number of plants had been en-tirely destroyed; others were in such a run-down state that theyrequired complete reconstruction. During the six years of therestoration period (1922-1927) over 500 new plants werebuilt and about 1,500 old enterprises were reconstructed andmodernized . Industrial output showed an average annual rateof increase for the six years of 37 per cent. By 1927 the out-put of practically all branches of industry, with the exception ofthe iron and steel industry, exceeded the 1913 figure .

The year-to-year output of census industry 1 during theperiod 1921-1928, as compared with 1913, is given in thefollowing table :

1 Census industry embraces all industrial enterprises employing over fifteen workers andusing mechanical power and those with no mechanical power but employing at least thirtyworkers .


63

The regaining of the prewar level did not mean, however,a restoration of prewar conditions or proportions among thevarious branches of the national economy . Private ownershipof the principal means of production, including land, had beenabolished. The main resources of the country were concen-trated in the hands of a single owner, the State, as well as theexploitation and distribution of these resources .

The policy of industrialization showed its effect both in arising share of industry in the total output of the national econ-omy and in a more rapid growth of heavy industry as againstlight industry . Thus, while in 1913 industrial output consti-tuted only 35 .5 per cent of the total production of industry andagriculture, by 1928 this percentage had reached 48 . Social-ized (i.e., state and co-operative) enterprises had become domi-nant in all branches except agriculture . By 1926-27 97 .7 percent of census industry was operated by state and co-operativeorganizations and only 2.3 per cent by private operators . Thetransportation and banking systems were entirely in the handsof the state . More than 8o per cent of the total commodityturnover was carried on by state and co-operative organizations .

Agriculture registered slower progress during this period,the predominance of small-scale production hampering its de-velopment. Although the prewar level, so far as sown area andproduction of principal crops were concerned, was nearly at-tained by 1928, agriculture failed to keep pace with the grow-

YEAROUTPUT

(in mill . ruble$, 7926-27 prices)PER CENT GAIN

OVER PRECEDING YEAR1913 10,251 .6 -1921 1,924 .9 42 .71922 2,512 .1 30.51923 3,8z9 .z 52 .4

7924 4,469 .5 16 .71925 7,436 .1 66 .47926 10,276 .9 38 .21927 12,051 .2 17.31928 14,754 .8 22 .4

64


ing demands of industry for agricultural raw materials and ofthe population for foodstuffs . This condition was the result ofthe extremely primitive methods employed by peasants operatingvery small farms, split into a series of "strips ." In 1928 therewere still in use millions of medieval sokhas (wooden plows) ;the small size of the farms precluded the possibility of utilizingmodern agricultural machinery, such as tractors and combines .However, the extension of control of the economic resources bythe Government and the increasing limitations put on richpeasants laid the basis in this period for the rapid growth ofthe system of large state and collective farms which during thesubsequent period, the period of the first Five-Year Plan,brought about such a complete transformation in agriculture .

THE STATE PLANNING SYSTEM

State planning in the U .S .S.R. is an integral part of thenational economy. The socialization of the means of produc-tion and distribution-land, minerals and other natural re-sources; banks ; transportation ; industrial and commercial en-terprises-constitutes the basis for the national planning system .Its aim is to employ to the fullest extent and in the most effec-tive manner the available natural resources and means of pro-duction for the purpose of increasing the productive capacityof the country and improving the living standards of thepopulation .

During the civil war period economic planning was of neces-sity very limited in range, being concerned chiefly with keepingaccount of the stocks of consumers' goods and with distribut-ing them as effectively as possible . In 1920 the so-called Goelro(state electrification) plan, covering a period of fifteen years,was drawn up. This was a skeleton plan indicating the generaldirection for the reconstruction of the national economy basedon the electrification of the country. In 1921 a central plan-


65

ping organization, the State Planning Commission (Gosplan),was organized. At first its programs covered only individualbranches of industry, but with the stabilization of the currencyand the development of state industry and the co-operativesystem, annual plans or "control figures," beginning with thefiscal year 1925-26, were drawn up for the entire nationaleconomy .

The preparation of Soviet economic plans is carried out onthe basis of general instructions issued by Gosplan . The specificdata, however, are collected by the combined efforts of all eco-nomic organizations . The economic commissariats of the Unionand of the constituent republics, the various economic agencies,local and national, the banks, the co-operatives, the industrialenterprises, the trade unions, the local soviets, the educationaland scientific institutes, the state and collective farms-all theseparticipate in the collecting of data for and the preliminarydrafting of the respective parts of the nation-wide social-economic plan . All the specific data collected and partial planssubmitted by the various organizations are then elaborated byGosplan and co-ordinated into a unified plan of economic ad-ministration . On the basis of this unified plan the higher plan-ning bodies assign each factory, mill, mine, state farm, etc . spe-cific schedules which cover all phases of activity of the enter-prise-amount and quality of output, production costs, laborproductivity, working and living conditions, etc . In the pre-liminary discussions leading up to the drafting of the plans, theworkers in the industrial enterprises and on the collective farmstake an active part .

The annual plans or control figures cover all branches ofnational economy for one year in advance. They have assumeda more integrated and comprehensive character with each year,embracing distribution as well as production . However, expan-sion of the national economy as a whole made necessary longer-

66


range planning as well . Huge and complicated projects forpower plants, factories, mills, state and collective farms, re-quiring several years for their execution, could not be coveredby the control figures drawn up for one year. It was, conse-quently, decided to draw up a comprehensive five-year plan .The first Five-Year Plan, adopted finally in 1929, requiredseveral years of preparation. It was originally drawn to coverthe period from October 1, 1928, to September 30, 1933,but later the period covered by the Plan was shortened so asto be terminated by the end of 1932 .

The stated aim of the first Five-Year Plan was to lay thebasis for transforming a backward agricultural country into ahighly industrial nation capable of satisfying the rapidly grow-ing demand of its population for agricultural and manu-factured products . This involved the re-equipment of oldplants and the construction of many new ones, some of whichrank among the largest of their kind in the world, thecreation of new industries, the opening up of new economicregions, and the socialization and mechanization of agriculture .In carrying out the policy of industrialization, the main em-phasis was placed upon the development of heavy industry andelectrification as the basis for the building up of both lightindustry and agriculture .

The stated aims of the second Five-Year Plan, while con-tinuing the development of heavy industry, are to expand con-siderably the output of consumers' goods in order to bringabout a marked advance in the standard of living . In the firstFive-Year Plan period several large industrial combines, suchas the Ural-Kuznetz combine, were started, but the buildingof large individual enterprises was considered of more imme-diate necessity . During the present five-year period developmentof the Dnieper and Ural-Kuznetz combines is being pushedand vast new projects, such as the Greater Volga and the Lake


67

Balkhash copper combine projects, are to be carried out .Industry is to extend into the rural districts, and agriculture isto be further mechanized during the period .

FULFILLMENT OF THE FIRST FIVE-YEAR PLAN

The first Five-Year Plan of economic development was con-cluded on December 31, 1932, viz., nine months earlier thanthe date originally set (September 30, 1933) . This fulfillmentof the program in four and one-quarter years instead of fivewas made possible by the considerable overfulfillment of theschedules in the first two years of the Plan and was achieveddespite certain unfavorable conditions during the last twoyears.

The Plan originally was prepared in two variants : optimaland minimal . The optimal schedules of the Plan, which wereadopted by the Congress of Soviets, were based on the assump-tion that there would be no serious failure of harvest and thatthere would be a considerable expansion in the trade betweenthe U.S .S .R. and the other countries of the world . As a matterof fact, adverse weather conditions in the principal grain re-gions in 1931 caused the crops in these regions to be consider-ably lower than the average during the preceding four years .Furthermore, the general decline in world trade and thevarious obstacles placed in the way of the trading operations ofthe U.S.S.R. in a number of countries resulted in the volumeof Soviet export and import operations being considerablysmaller than that anticipated in the Plan. Moreover, in 1932,due to the possibility of war, the U .S.S.R. greatly increasedits defense program . Thus, not only were the favorable con-ditions, which were considered essential for the fulfillmentof the optimal schedules of the Plan in five years, lacking butadditional difficulties arose . Nevertheless, the program of "theFive-Year Plan in Four" was largely fulfilled in its basic

68


essentials, and the program of industrial output fulfilled tothe extent of 96 .4 per cent.

During the period of the first Five-Year Plan the sumof 5o billion rubles was invested in the national economy, abouthalf of the total in industry. Over 1,500 new plants wereerected, including a number of the world's largest . The vol-ume of industrial production more than doubled during theperiod. The share of the Soviet Union in the industrial pro-duction of the world rose from 4 .9 per cent in 1928 to 17 .5per cent in 1932 . In the field of agriculture an even greaterchange in structure was consummated . In place of the narrowstrips of land cultivated in the most primitive fashion therewere organized more than 5,000 large state farms and 200,000collective farms operating on the basis of modern technique andaccounting in 1932 for 78 per cent of the sown area, asagainst 17 .5 per cent scheduled by the Plan and 2 .7 per cent in1928. The principal indices of economic growth under thefirst Five-year Plan are given in the table below :

2 For the fiscal year 192 8 -z9 .

RATIO OF 1932 TO

1932-331928 1932 I9z8 (5-Yr. Plan) 1913

I. FinanceA. National Income (bill .

rubles, 1926-27

r ---in per cene,

prices) 27 .3 45 .5 186 .1 91 .6 202 .4Socialized sector

(per cent) 49 .7 87 .1 175 .3 131 .4B. Capital investments in

socialized sector ofnational economy(bill . rubles, pricesof respective years)

Total 5 .4 a 19 .3 357 .4 154.4Industry 2 .3 2 9 .6 417 .4 239 .1Agriculture 0 .9 2 3 .3 366 .7 191 .3Transportation 1 .1 ' 3 .6 327 .3 118 .9

I For the fiscal year 1 92 7-28 .


69

RATIO OF 1932 TO

1932-331gz8 1932 1928 (5-Yr .Plan) 1913

30 .49 585 .0C. State revenue (bill.

rubles)

5.21 s

in per cent

257 .6 -

II . ElectrificationCapacity of all plants at end

of year (m ill . kw.)

1.87 4.57 243 .7 83 .0 415 .9Output (bill. kw : h.)

5.00 13.10 z61 .8 - 1,543 .5III. Industry, census

Number of workers (mil-lions)

3.1 6.4 201 .9 157 .1 220 .8Wages, average annual

(rubles)

870.0 1,478 .4 169 .7 120.1 -Output (bill . rubles,

1926-27 prices)

15.7 35 .3 224 .8 96 .4 344 .4A. Producers' goods (bill .

rubles)

7.0 19 .1 272 .9 109 .8 445 .2Fuel, total (bill . rubles)

1 .o8 2.38 220 .8 99 .8 -Coal (mill . tons)

39. 5 64 .4 163 .1 85 .9 246 .7Oil (mill. tons)

12.3 22.2 18o .5 102 .3 238 .7Pig iron (mill . tons)

3.4 6.z 182 .4 62 .0 147 .6Machinery (bill . rubles)

1.58 6.14 388 .6 16z .o 1,023 .3Electrical equipment

(bill . rubles)

0.24 1.22 509 .1 136 .0 1,355 .5B . Consumers' goods (bill.

rubles)

8.7 16 .z 186 .2 84 .4 271 .8Food (bill . rubles)

1.54 3.49 225 .6 103 .3 -IV. Transportation, Railway

Length of lines in opera-tion ( thous . km .)

76.9 83 .4 1o8.5 88.7 142.6Freight traffic (bill.

ton-km.)

93.4 169 .3 141 .3 104.1 257.7Passenger traffic (bill .

pass : km .)

24.5 84 .1 343 .3 237 .6 333 .7V. Agriculture

A. Sown area (mill . hectares)134 .4 119 .0 94.9 128 .0Total

113.0Grain

92.2 99 .7 108 .2 89 .0 105 .7Wheat

27.7 34 .6 124 .9 - 109 .4Industrial crops

8.6 14.9 172 .6 124 .2 327 .0Cotton

0.97 2.17 223 .7 144 .7 314 .5Sugar beets

0.77 1.54 200 .0 140 .0 236 .9B . Production (mill . tons)

Grain

73.32 69 .87 95 .3 65 .9 87 .2

70


In comparing the 1932 results with the schedules set by theFive-Year Plan, several factors have important weight . First,while the schedules cover a period of five years, the actual re-sults were attained in four and one-quarter years. Second,the schedules for certain branches of industry were some-what underfulfilled, but those for other branches were con-siderably overfulfilled. A marked growth was recorded inpractically all industries. Third, several supplemental under-takings of major importance, not provided for in the originalPlan, were begun and carried out . Chief among such supple-ments to the Plan were the expansion of industrial construc-tion (the Ural-Kuznetz combine, many new plants for themanufacture of complicated machinery, etc .) and the masscollectivization of agriculture .

The national income in 1932 amounted to 45.5 billion

RATIO OF 1932 TO

1928 19321932 - 33

1928 (5-Yr. Plan) 1913-in per cent

Cotton (raw) .82 1 .27 154 .9 66 .5

171.6Flax (fiber) .32 5o 156 .2 80 .7

151 .5Sugar beets 10.14 6 .56 64 .7 32 .8

6o.zVegetable oil crops 3 .39 4 .55 134 .2 67 .7

211.6C. Mechanization

Agricultural machineryin use (bill . rubles) 1 .1 2.4 218.2 - -

Tractors (thousands) 26.7 148.0 554.3 - -Tractors (thous . hp .) 278 .0 2,225 .0 800 .4 - -

D. State farmsNumber (thousands) 3 .1 10 .2 326.4 - -Sown area (mill.

hectares) 1 .7 13 .6 781 .3 309 .1

-E. Collective farms

Number (thousands) 33 .3 209 .6 629 .4 - -Percentage of peasant

households collec-tivized 1 .7 61 .5 3,617 .7 640 .6

-Sown area (mill .

hectares) 1 .4 91 .6 6,684.5 631 .7

-

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 71

rubles, an increase of 86 per cent over 1928 and about 8per cent under the figure set for 1 932-33 (49 .7 billion rubles) .

Another basic index is capital construction . In this instancethe actual results considerably exceeded the schedules set forthe Plan. The volume of capital investments during the 41/4years totaled 50.5 billion rubles, exceeding the program forfive years by 11 .9 per cent. Of the total 24 .8 billion rubleswas absorbed by industry (29.8 per cent above the five-yearschedule), 9 .7 billion rubles by agriculture (34.7 per centabove), 8.9 billion rubles by transportation (io.o per cent be-low), and o.56 billion rubles by communications (86.7 per centabove). This capital outlay was provided by the country'sown resources, foreign credits being negligible . As a resultof the construction work carried out, the national basic capitalmore than doubled during the four years .

The total output of census industry increased from 15 .7billion rubles in 1928 to 34.3 billion rubles in 1932, an in-crease of 118.5 per cent. The average annual rate of growthwas 21 .6 per cent . The level of production set for the fifthyear of the Plan, however, was not quite attained, the 1932output falling short by 3.6 per cent. This underfulfillmentwas attributed to a number of circumstances, including thenecessity of diverting considerable resources to strengthen thedefense of the country . Moreover, it should be noted thathundreds of important plants, in which large sums were in-vested during the period of the Plan either were not fully com-pleted during the period or completed only shortly before itsclose . This was particularly true of the iron and steel industry,where actual production results fell furthest below the

1932-33 schedules. By the end of 1932 the basic capital ofthe iron and steel industry had doubled, but about two dozenof the new blast furnaces, with a combined capacity consider-ably greater than the total 1932 pig iron production, were not


fully completed and could not contribute to output . As a result,over 75 per cent of the 1932 output still came from oldblast furnaces (those in operation before 1931) . Nevertheless,output of heavy industry as a whole exceeded the Five-YearPlan schedule, and for certain major branches-machinery,electrical equipment-this excess was considerable .

Moreover, it was in heavy industry that some of the mostimportant supplements to the original Five-Year Plan weremade. Among the supplemental works of the four-year period(1928-1932) not envisaged by the Plan are : First, the crea-tion of a second coal and metallurgical base in the East-theUral-Kuznetz combine. This combine embraces not only thenew huge steel mills at Magnitogorsk and Stalinsk (formerlyKuznetsk) but a whole network of new enterprises to producecoal, coke, locomotives, copper, heavy machinery (Sverdlovsk),tractors (Cheliabinsk), chemicals (Berezniky), potash (Soli-kamsk), etc. This new industrial center, with its availableresources of iron, coal, nonferrous metals, and other minerals,is expected to be a very important factor in the program of eco-nomic development in the coming years . Second, the construc-tion of a number of other large industrial plants, such as theKharkov tractor plant, the Saratov combine works, the Gorkyturret lathe plant, the Moscow milling machine plant, the newAzov and Tula steel mills, the synthetic rubber plants and anumber of tube and pipe-rolling mills . Third, the organizationof the manufacture of many new products, particularly numer-ous types of complicated machinery and electrical equipment,such as combines, caterpillar tractors, cotton pickers, 50,-ooo-kw. turbines, electric cars, high-powered locomotives,blooming mills and other complex equipment for the iron andsteel industry, rotary printing presses and linotypes, complexoptical and measuring instruments, etc . Fourth, the solution ofvarious technical problems, such as the production of aluminum


and synthetic rubber, of ferro-alloys and various types of specialsteel, and of vanadium from Kerch and Ural ores, the utiliza-tion of low-grade fuel on a large scale for power andindustrial plants, etc .

The results obtained in the machine-building industry are of

special significance. The Five-Year Plan schedule for the

manufacture of machinery and electrical equipment was ex-ceeded by 57 per cent; that for industrial machinery by81 per cent . Total output of the machine-building industry in1932 amounted to 7 .4 billion rubles, four times the 1928 and

ten times the 1933 output .The requirements of capital investments and imported equip-

ment in the key industries were so great and the growth of theurban population and its demands so rapid that, despite a con-siderable increase in output of consumers' goods during thefour years, over 87 per cent, the Five-Year Plan schedule wasunderfulfilled by 15 per cent and output in several brancheswas inadequate to meet the growing demands of the popula-

tion. However, the development of the basic industries, par-ticularly the advances in the machine-building industry, estab-

lished a solid basis for the growth of light industry and for thegeneral upbuilding of the national economy during the second

Five-Year Plan period .

The railway transportation system fell short of meeting therequirements of the country, although the volume of freightcarried increased during the four years by 8o per cent and thenumber of passengers more than trebled . As regards bothfreight and passenger traffic, the Five-Year Plan was ex-ceeded ; in fact, for passenger traffic the schedule was morethan doubled . The program for new railway construction(15,659 km.) was completed up to 9o per cent . Considerableprogress was likewise made as regards water and highway traf-fic. Civil aviation developed rapidly during the first Five-Year


Plan, and by the end of 1932 the network of airlines totaled30,500 kilometers, as against 11,400 km . in 1928 .

The reorganization of agriculture on the basis of large-scale,socialized production was inaugurated during the first Five-Year Plan . The collectivization of agriculture progressed at afar more rapid pace than had been provided by the Plan . Thestate and collective farms accounted by 1932 for 78 .6 per centof the total area sown to grain, 90 .6 per cent of the wheat area,and 82.8 per cent of the area sown to industrial crops (cotton,sugar beets, etc.) . In regard to the output of marketable grain,the share of state and collective farms rose to 84 per cent, asagainst 42 .6 per cent scheduled by the Plan. Mechanizationaccompanied socialization ; the number of tractors availablefor agriculture rose from 26,700 in 1928 to 148,000 in 1932 .The part of the sown area plowed by tractors increased tomore than one-third, as against one per cent in 1928 .

This transformation of agriculture was met by serious op-position on the part of the kulaks, one of the results of whichwas a drastic depletion of the livestock supply, the effects ofwhich are still felt . As regards crop production, considerableincreases were recorded for most of the technical crops (espe-cially cotton, flax and vegetable oil crops) . Grain production,however, declined in 1931 and 1932, rising again to a recordlevel in 1933 and to almost as high a figure in 1 934 .

The share of the incomes of the workers and employees inthe total income of the population increased during the Five-Year Plan period from 35 .6 per cent in 1928 to 55 .7 per centin 1932 ; the share of the collective farmers rose from 1 .3 percent to 27 .3 per cent; and that of artisans and handicraftworkers organized in producers' co-operatives rose from 1 .4per cent to 2 .9 per cent. Production of consumers' goods re-corded an annual average rate of increase of 17 per cent duringthe period, which failed, however, by a wide margin to meet


the growing demands for manufactured products of generalconsumption and for certain foodstuffs. The total volume ofgoods handled by the state and co-operative trading systemshowed a gain of 75 per cent during the four years. Moreover,following collectivization of agriculture, a new form of trade-collective farm trade-was developed, which constitutes animportant factor in the consolidation of the collective farms andin the system of distribution .

Among the principal results of the first Five-Year Plan werethe elimination of unemployment and the placing of about8o per cent of the industrial workers on the seven-hour day .The average number of employed persons per family wasincreased; social insurance funds were quadrupled. Social-ized restaurants in 1932 served a total of 15 million persons ;27 million square meters of new housing space were addedduring the four years and 5 million persons moved into newhouses ; cultural and recreational opportunities were greatlyincreased. Twenty-six billion rubles were expended during thefour years for social and cultural services, as against 22 .8 bil-lion rubles scheduled for five years. Of the total 15 .4 billionrubles went for educational purposes and Io .6 billion rubles forhealth protection and social welfare .

The number of pupils in elementary and secondary schoolsdoubled, increasing from i 1,ooo,ooo in 1928 to 23,000,000in 1932 . Elementary education was made compulsory, and anenergetic drive was carried on against adult illiteracy . Whilebefore the war not more than one-third of the populationwas literate and in 1928 only about half, by the end of 1932the percentage of literacy had risen to 9o (97 per cent for theurban population ; 88 per cent for the rural) . Millions of stu-dents and workers attended the day and evening factoryschools, secondary and higher technical schools and universi-ties. During the first Five-Year Plan period the factory train-

76


ing schools trained 300,000 young skilled workers for industryand 450,000 for the national economy as a whole, while atotal of 284,000 new engineers and technicians entered serv-ice. The ratio of specialists in industry rose from 4 per 100workers in 1928 to 7 per ioo in 1932 .

Among the pressing problems of economic development havebeen : the lagging of the iron and steel and non-ferrousmetals industries ; insufficient emphasis given in the past yearsto the opening up of new coal and oil basins, particularly inthe outlying regions ; the relative backwardness of the con-sumers' goods and food industries; insufficiently high standardof the quality of manufactured goods ; comparatively highlabor costs and low labor productivity ; faulty organization oflabor and bureaucratic methods of management and adminis-tration .

The inadequate supply of trained engineers, technicians,mechanics, and workers experienced in the operation of mod-ern machinery has hampered the efficient operation of the manynew plants equipped with the most up-to-date machinery . Someof these plants during the early period of their operation sufferedconsiderably from "infantile disorders ." Successful operationof new plants often presented greater difficulties than theirconstruction. At the present time major emphasis is beingplaced upon perfecting all the technical details of productionand improving efficiency of operation .

In agriculture, while the government holds that the grainproblem has been solved and a solid basis established for the fur-ther development of agriculture on a higher technical level,much still remains to be done . This includes: improving theunwieldy and bureaucratic methods of administration of manystate and collective farms ; introducing correct crop rotation ;extension of summer fallow ; improvement of seed selection ;better organization of maintenance and repair of agricultural


machinery ; increasing the amount of fertilizers ; combatingdrought in the Volga region ; developing crop cultivation onformer waste lands in the so-called "consuming regions" ; and,finally, building up the depleted supplies of livestock .

Other "bottle necks" in the national economy are the back-wardness of the system of internal trade and of the trans-portation system . All of these difficulties are being given theclosest attention by the government and diligent efforts arebeing made to overcome them . The statistical reports for thefirst years of the second Five-Year Plan-1 933-1 934-indi -cate noticeable improvements in almost all fields .

THE FIRST Two YEARS OF THE SECOND FIVE-YEAR PLAN

The 1933 grain crop, totaling 89,800,000 metric tons, wasten million tons greater than in the two years preceding andexceeded by a considerable margin the previous records crops-those of 1930 and 1913 . The principal technical crops (cotton,flax, sugar beets and oil seeds) also showed increases, althoughin each case the area sown was less than that of 1932. Theperiod of intensive reorganization of agriculture on a socializedbasis was completed in 1932, and the greatest emphasis is nowbeing placed on increasing the yield. In spite of the consider-able gain in total agricultural production, the sown area (129 ;700,000 hectares) was 3 .5 per cent below that of the precedingyear. The average yield of grain crops in 1933, 8.8 centnersper hectare (13 bushels of 6o pounds per acre), was 26 percent above that of 1932 .

Despite the severe drought which affected certain sectionsof the country, the 1934 grain crop totaled 89,400,000 tons,only one-half per cent below that of the preceding year . How-ever, owing to reduction of losses in harvesting, the amount ofgrain brought in was actually larger than in 1 933 .

7 8


State grain collections, amounting to almost 25 million tons,were also greater than in 1933 and were completed i 2months earlier. The excellent crops for two years in succes-sion furnished the basis for the abolition of the bread rationingsystem at the end of 1 934 .

As a result of the increased supply of grain, coupled withnotable improvements in the organization of state and collec-tive farms, an increase in the number of livestock was recordedm 1934 for the first time since 1928 . The census of July 1 934demonstrated that only the number of horses continued todecline, although by only 5 .5 per cent (as against 16 per centin 1933), while the number of horses under one year of ageincreased by 40 per cent . The number of cattle, sheep, goatsand pigs all showed gains, indicating the beginning of recoveryin the deficient livestock industry.

Total agricultural production showed a gain of 6 .7 per centin 1933 and a further gain of 6 .2 per cent in 1934, bringingoutput up to a value of 14,829 million rubles . The grain cropin 1934 was 29.3 per cent greater than that of 1932, whilethe average yield per hectare in 1933-1934 was 15.3 per centabove the average for 1928-1932 . Grain cultivation duringthe two years kept abreast of the program set by the secondFive-Year Plan but agriculture as a whole was somewhatunder the program owing to the lag in the technical crops(cotton, sugar beets, etc .) and the livestock industry. Technicalcrops recorded an increase of 5 .2 per cent in the two years .

Capital investments in agriculture in 1933-34 totaled fivebillion rubles, a large part of which went for machinery andequipment . During the two years the farms received tractorstotaling 2,613,000 hp ., 1 33,400 tractor plows, 75,900 grainseeders, 20,700 combines, and 25,300 multiple threshers . Thisbrought the total tractor horsepower by the end of 1934 to4,461,000 and the number of combines to 35,200 .


Industry recorded increases in practically all fields in 1 933,that for large-scale industry as a whole totaling 8 .8 per cent .Heavy industry made the best record, the light, food andlumber industries lagging behind . Coal and pig iron showedgains of 18 .4 and 15 .6 per cent, respectively, the machineryand metal-working industries 14 .2 per cent and power 18 .4per cent. Oil and non-ferrous metals recorded slight declines .Consumers' goods and food industries showed increases of 3 .2and 4.4 per cent, respectively, falling behind the program .

In 1934 industrial development was greatly accelerated .Output of large-scale industry, according to preliminary data,registered a gain of 18 .4 per cent over the preceding year .Heavy industries, showing a rise of 27 per cent, were above theprogram. Production of light industry increased by 5 .3 percent, of food industries-2o .2 per cent and of the timber andwood-working industries-12.1 per cent . The output of allindustries increased from 43 .3 billion rubles in 1932 to 53 .9billion in 1934, a gain of 24 .5 per cent. The plan for the twoyears 1933-1934 was fulfilled to the extent of 97 per cent,according to recent government statistics .

An outstanding feature of the year 1934 was the growthof the metallurgical industry. Pig iron output totaled 10 .4million tons, recording an increase of 47 per cent ; steel pro-

duction, at 9.6 million tons, increased by 4o per cent androlled products by 39 per cent. For the two-year period 1 933-1934 the rates of growth of pig iron and steel reached thefigures of 68 and 62 per cent, respectively .

Coal production, totaling 93.5 million tons, showed an in-crease of over 23 per cent. In the first two years of the secondFive-year Plan the increase was 45 per cent. The number ofautomobiles and trucks produced reached 72,466, an increaseof 45.8 per cent over 1933, and the number of tractors-94,478, a rise of 21 per cent. Electric power recorded an in-

8o


crease of 25 .5 per cent in 1934 . Increases were recorded alsoby the non-ferrous metals, chemical and many other industries .

A great amount of capital construction was completed in1 933-1034. Capital investments in industry, exceeding 2o bil-lion rubles, approximated 83 per cent of the investments duringthe entire first Five-Year Plan . Many new enterprises wereput into operation during the two years. These included suchimportant projects as the Ural and Kramatorsk heavy machin-ery plants, the Lugansk locomotive plant, the Cheliabinsk trac-tor factory, the Zaporozhye tool steel and ferroalloys plants, theAzov and Lipetsk steel mills, the Dnieper aluminum works,69 coal mines with a capacity of 34 million tons, the Stalino-gorsk (Bobriky) and Voskresensk chemical plants, the Soli-kamsk potash works, over a dozen major power plants (orextensions to existing stations), a half-dozen large packinghouses, 14 canneries, three sugar refineries, etc . In addition,work was started on many other projects . In the four yearsfrom 1930 to 1934 the basic capital of industry increased morethan 100 per cent.

Railroad transportation, while still lagging far behind thegeneral industrial development, showed some improvement in1934. Average daily car loadings for the year amounted to56,200, an increase of 9.8 per cent over 1933 . The firstsection of the Moscow-Donbas Railroad was put into operationand the first section of the Moscow subway brought nearly tocompletion. Noteworthy in the field of water transportationwere the completion of the Baltic-White Sea Canal (in 1 933)and the starting of construction on the Moscow-Volga Canal .

THE PLACE OF THE U.S.S.R . IN WORLD ECONOMY

As a result of the advance of Soviet economy during thefirst Five-Year Plan and of the economic depression in othercountries, the U .S .S.R ., according to Soviet authorities, rose


81

in rank as regards industrial output from fifth to second place,and its share in total world output increase from 4 .9 per centin 1928 to 17 .5 per cent in 1932 .' For certain products-timber, peat, agricultural machinery and tractors-it holds firstplace in the world at present ; and for others-oil, pig iron andindustrial machinery-first place in Europe, being second onlyto the United States .The U.S.S.R. in 1932 ranked sixth in output of electric

power, but by 1934 had risen to third place. The coefficientof electrification in industry amounted to 71 per cent in 1932,as compared to 40 per cent in 1933 and 51 per cent in 1928 .The U.S.S.R. holds the first place in peat production, and it

has gained a leading position as regards coal and oil . Withrespect to coal production the U .S .S.R. rose from sixth placein 1928 to fourth place in 1934, following the UnitedStates, Great Britain and Germany. In 1931 the Soviet Unionreached second place in oil production, supplanting Venezuela .Its production surpassed that in Venezuela by over one-third both in 1931 and 1932. While in 1928 output in theUnited States of coal was fifteen times and of oil eleven timesthat of the U.S.S.R ., in 1932 it was about five times in thecase of both coal and oil .

In 1934 the Soviet Union occupied second place in the worldwith respect to the output of pig iron and third place insteel output. This contrasts with the situation in 1928,when it held sixth place for pig iron and fifth for steel andwhen output in Great Britain was over twice, in France andGermany more than three times, and in the United Statesnearly twelve times Soviet production .

Total output of machinery in 1934 was nearly seven times the1928 figure. Besides this rapid expansion of domestic outputthe Soviet Union has held first rank as an importer of machin-

' Konyunkturs Mirovovo Khozaistva (Survey of World Economics), No . 8-9, 1933, p. 16.

82


ery and may continue to be an important market for machineryand equipment for a considerable period to come .

The share of the U .S.S.R. in total world imports increasedfrom 1 .3 per cent in 1929 to 2 .8 per cent in 1931, and in totalworld exports from 1 .5 per cent in 1929 to 2 .3 per cent in1931. In 1934 its share in total world trade amounted to 2 .0per cent, as compared with 9 per cent for Great Britain andx o per cent for the United States .

The exports of the Soviet Union have consisted principallyof raw materials, industrial and agricultural, for some ofwhich it ranks high among the world's exporters . It holds firstplace as an exporter of timber and manganese, supplying overhalf the world total of the latter, and is a leading exporter offurs, fish, oil and wheat . While its share of world exports ofmost of these commodities is equal to or in excess of the pre-war figure, for wheat the percentage has been cut in half .In 1913 Russian exports of wheat constituted about 25 percent of total world exports ; in 1930, a bumper crop year,Soviet wheat exports made up only 15 per cent of the worldtotal and in 1933 five per cent. This is due to the fact that amuch larger amount is now allocated to domestic consumption .

The Soviet Union has the largest grain and wheat area andthe largest total agricultural output of any country in theworld. It is among the three leading producers of grain, flax,sugar beets, cotton and tobacco . Its agriculture, formerly em-ploying the most antiquated methods of cultivation, now holds aleading place as regards large-scale, mechanized production .

In transportation the U .S .S.R. ranks second, after theUnited States, in the length of air and railway lines and inrailway freight operations . Passenger operations on Soviet rail-ways in 1932 totaled 84 billion passenger-kilometers, more thantriple the prewar figure (25 .2 billion) and close to 2 .5 timesthe 1932 level in the United States (35 .3 billion) . Nevertheless,


83

transportation is one of the weak spots in Soviet economy, forit is still unable to cope with the increasingly heavy demands ofindustry and agriculture .

While the Soviet Union occupies an advanced position asregards volume of industrial production, it lags behind theother leading industrial countries in certain other respects, suchas technical efficiency, labor productivity, quality of output andnorm of production per capita of the population . Even forthose industrial products in the volume of output of which theSoviet Union ranks high, the norm per capita, due to the largerpopulation of the U.S.S.R ., is considerably below that in theother advanced industrial countries .

VI

THE SECOND FIVE-YEAR PLAN ( 1 933-1 937)

The following is a translation of portions of the resolutionadopted by the XVIIth Congress of the Communist Party ofthe U .S.S.R. giving the main outlines of the second Five-YearPlan. The provisions of the Plan were ratified by the CentralExecutive Committee and the Council of People's Commissarson November 17, 1 934

The Congress resolves :

i . To set production for all industry in 1937, the finalyear of the second Five-Year Plan, at 92 .7 billion rubles (in1926-27 prices), as compared with 43 billion rubles in 1932,the final year of the first Five-Year Plan. This means thatthe annual increase is to average 16.5 per cent and thatindustrial output in 1937 is to be more than double that in1932 and approximately eight times the prewar figure. Asregards production of consumers' goods, to set a more rapidrate of development not only in comparison with the firstFive-Year Plan (an average annual increase of 18 .5 per cent,as against 17 per cent in the first Five-Year Plan), but alsoin comparison with the rate of development of the productionof producers' goods in the second Five-Year Plan (an averageannual increase of 18.5 per cent, as against 14.5 per cent forproducers' goods) .

2. To set the following schedules for production in themost important branches of industry :84

THE SECOND FIVE-YEAR PLAN (I933 - I937)

85

RATIO OF

In view of the fact that local industry can constitute animportant supplementary source of supply with regard to thesatisfaction of the rapidly growing demands of the workersand collective farmers, the Congress calls for a trebling

PROGRAM FOR 1937 TO 1932(in per cent)1937

Industry, total (bill. rubles, 1926-27 prices) 92.7 214 .1Commissariat for Heavy Industry (bill . rubles) 33 .5 234 . 6Commissariat for Timber Industry (bill . rubles) 3 .6 200 .0Commissariat for Light Industry (bill . rubles) 19 .5 248 .8Commissariat for Internal Supply (bill . rubles) 11 .9 256 .,

A . Producers' goods (billion rubles, 1gz6-z7 prices) 45 .5 197 .2I . Machine-building and metal-working

19.5 207industries (bill . rubles)Machine-tools, metal-cutting (thous . units) 40 267Tractors (thous. 15-hp . units) 167 323Combines 20 zoo(thous . units)Locomotives, trunk-line (in conditional

z,Soo 337units of "E" and "SU" type)Freight cars (thous . z-axle units) 118 .4 531Automobiles (thous . units) 200 837

z . Electric power, total (bill . kw : h.) 38 283Regional plants (Glavenergo) (bill kw : h .) 24.5 296

3 . Coal (mill . tons) 152 .5 2374. Oil, with gas (mill . tons) 46 .8 zzo5 . Pig iron (mill. tons) 16 26o6 . Steel ingots (mill . tons) 17 2897 . Rolled steel (mill . tons) 13 3038 . Chemical industry (bill, rubles) 5 .5 2809. Lumber, sawn (mill . cu . meters) 43 176lo . Copper (thous . tons) 135 290II . Aluminum (thous. tons) 80 -

B . Consumers' goods (bill . rubles, 1926-27 prices) 47.2 233 .6i . Cotton cloth (mill . meters) 5,100 1882 . Linen cloth (mill. sq . meters) 6oo 4613 . Shoes, leather (mill. pairs) 180 2204. Sugar, granulated (thous . tons) 2,500 3025 . Fish catch (thous . tons) 1,800 1396. Meat-Comm . for Food Industry

1,200 276(thous . tons)7. Canned goods-Comm . for Food Industry

(mill . cans) 2,000 3358 . Soap (thous. tons) 1,000 2809. Woolen cloth (mill. meters) 220 241

86


of the production of consumers' goods by local in-dustry during the second Five-Year Plan period and calls uponthe local administrative bodies to manifest maximum initiativein the matter of the development of local industry and thesearch for new kinds of raw materials . At the same time, theCongress calls upon the Central Committee and the Councilof People's Commissars to develop local industry by trans-ferring to the jurisdiction of local administrative bodies anumber of industrial enterprises formerly under all-Unionjurisdiction, or that of the constituent republics, and also toplace a conisderable share of the profits of local industry at thedisposal of the local central executive committees .

3. The Congress points out that for the fulfillment of thescheduled program of industrial development and the con-summation of the technical reconstruction of the nationaleconomy it is necessary :

(a) To carry out the technical re-equipment of all branchesof the national economy of the U.S.S .R ., involving the intro-duction in the shortest time possible of the latest technicalachievements, to the end that in 1937 about 8o per cent of in-dustrial output will be accounted for by enterprises newly con-structed or entirely reconstructed during the first and secondFive-Year Plan periods . Means of production acquired by thenational economy during the period of the second Five-YearPlan alone are to constitute at the end of this period 50-60per cent of all means of production in the entire nationaleconomy.

(b) To consummate a reconstruction of the machine-build-ing industry, the loading branch of the national economy, whichwill enable it to provide, by its own forces, for all theneeds of the national economy in modern, technically up-to-date equipment, such reconstruction to involve the extensivedevelopment of new types of production . During the second

THE SECOND FIVE-YEAR PLAN (1933-1937)

87

Five-Year Plan period the manufacture of some 20o differenttypes of the newest machine-tools must be developed . Metal-lurgical machine-building should develop the manufacture ofthe entire range of equipment for all metallurgical depart-ments ; machine-building for the light and food industries thatof dozens of new types of machines. Agricultural machine-building must develop the manufacture of all types of machin-ery and tractor-drawn equipment necessary for the carryingout of the further mechanization of agriculture, particularlythe mechanization of the labor-absorbing processes involved inthe cultivation of industrial and row crops . The manufactureof equipment for road work, for municipal economy, and forhousing construction must be expanded.

(c) To complete basically the mechanization of all labor-absorbing processes and heavy work in industry . In the coalindustry to increase the mechanization of cutting to 93 percent by the end of the five-year period, with a correspondingraising of the level of mechanization of other processes; inthe iron and steel industry to increase mechanization to a levelwhich will insure that 8o per cent of the total output of pigiron will be obtained from fully mechanized blast furnaces ;in the peat industry over 70 per cent of the total output to beproduced by mechanized methods ; in construction mechaniza-tion of the basic processes to be increased to 8o per cent andproduction of local building materials to be mechanized ; inthe timber industry mechanization of hauling is to be increasedsix-fold and sawing into lengths and shaping three-fold ; mech-anization of wood distillation .

(d) To create a new power base for the completion of thereconstruction of all branches of the national economy and toform in all power centers reserves of capacity adequate toinsure an uninterrupted power supply for the national econ-omy. To complete in the main the electrification of industry by

88


means of the widest .utilization of the newest electrical methodsof production in all branches of industry, especially in metal-lurgy and chemistry (consumption of power by electrified pro-duction to increase to an amount nine times the present figure) ;extensive development of the electrification of transportationand gradual introduction of electric power in the productionprocesses of agriculture . To develop on a broader scale centralheating for industry and large cities . To continue the policy ofutilizing to an ever greater extent local fuel and especiallyhydro-electric resources for power supply. To complete duringthe second Five-Year Plan period the linking of regional sta-tions into networks within district boundaries and to begin aninter-district linking of stations, including the creation duringthe five-year period of the Donbas-Dnieper power supply sys-tem, with an annual output of 9 billion kw .-h. To develop thegasification of peat and shale .

(e) To eliminate entirely the lagging behind of the ironand steel industry with respect to the general rate of develop-ment of the national economy . To double during the five-yearperiod the capacity of the steel mills and to overcome as rapidlyas possible the gap between the capacity of the blast furnacesand that of the steel foundries and, especially, rolling mill de-partments, which latter have lagged behind the former. Toexpand the production of various types of metal-special steels,electrosteel, ferroalloys, complex rolled shapes, etc.-to avolume fully adequate to satisfy the needs of the nationaleconomy. To carry out an extensive reconstruction of the ironore industry, introducing on a broad scale methods of concen-tration and agglomeration of ores .

To proceed at an especially rapid rate with the develop-ment and technical re-equipment of nonferrous metallurgy ;to consummate a complete transition to modern methods ofcopper extraction (flotation, reverberatory furnaces) and in

THE SECOND FIVE-YEAR PLAN (I933-I937)

89

the production of zinc to introduce on a broad scale advancedelectrolytic methods, obtaining in 1937 by such methods 70per cent of the entire output ; to organize the production oftin, nickel and magnesium, and to develop the production ofaluminum on a broad scale ; to satisfy completely the require-ments of the entire national economy and of the power in-dustry in particular for products of nonferrous metallurgy .

(f) To achieve advances in the development of the chemi-cal industry, thus providing a broad chemical base for allbranches of the national economy and a strengthening of thedefense of the country. The production of all kinds of ferti-lizers to be increased tenfold during the period of the secondFive-Year Plan ; to develop extensively the process of organiz-ing the production of new chemical products (chemical treat-ment of hard fuel-coal, peat, shale ; new kinds of dyes ;plastics ; synthetic rubber ; etc .) ; to introduce the newest tech-nological processes in the chemical industry (extensive develop-ment of electrothermic and electrolytic methods, the introduc-tion of reactions in gaseous phases, etc.) . To strengthen theco-ordination of the chemical industry with other branches ofindustry (the coke, nonferrous metals, iron and steel, andother industries) and to encourage the utilization of a numberof new kinds of raw material .

(g) To develop production in the most important branches ofthe light and food industries through the creation of a large ma-chine-building industry, involving the raising of the share takenby automatic looms in the cotton textile industry to 40 per centby the end of the period and substituting modern machinesfor obsolete spinning looms ; to eliminate the technical back-wardness of the linen industry by means of the introduction ofhigh-speed machinery and the thorough reorganization of theprimary treatment of flax ; to carry out an all-round mechan-ization of knit-goods, clothing and shoe manufacture ; to create

go


a large-scale, mechanized meat-packing industry on the basis ofthe development of combines ; to raise the share taken by mech-anized fishing to 70 per cent of the total output of the statefishing industry by means of considerable reconstruction of thefishing fleet ; extensive reconstruction of the vegetable oilindustry on the basis of the introduction of the most effectivemethods of extraction .

4. The accomplishment of the tasks of the technical re-construction of industry necessitates the successful developmentof the new technique and of the manufacture of new products,to effect a considerable increase in labor productivity and amarked decline in production costs. Accordingly, the Con-gress calls for :

(a) An increase in labor productivity in industry during thesecond Five-Year Plan period of 63 per cent as against 41per cent during the first Five-Year Plan period, i.e., to suchan extent that the productivity of labor shall become a decisivefactor in the fulfillment of the scheduled program for in-creased output during the second Five-Year Plan period .

(b) A decrease in production costs for all industry of 26per cent, as compared with the 1932 level, the saving in 1 937arising from such lowering of production costs to amount tonot less than 13 billion rubles .

(c) Accompanying the decline in production costs, the at-tainment of marked improvement in the quality and assort-ment of the products of all branches of the national economy .A considerable decrease in the ash and sulphur content in coal,an increase in the variety of products of the metallurgical in-dustry, an improvement in quality and a raising of the co-efficient of utilization of machinery, an increase in the numberof grades of yarn, a marked improvement in the quality ofcotton and linen cloth, an increase in the proportion of thefiner-weave and worsted grades in the total output of the wool

THE SECOND FIVE-YEAR PLAN (1933-1937) 91

industry, an increase in the share taken by fine wool in woolencloth, a marked improvement in the quality of soap by raisingthe fat content, improvement in the quality of footwear bothas regards the methods of manufacture and the raw materialsused, improvement in the quality of the output of the meat-packing industry by raising the proportion of pork, sausageand lard, improvement in the output of the fish industry byraising the proportion of the better kinds of fish, considerableimprovement as regards the quality of output in the flour in-dustry by increasing the amount of the better grades of flour .

5 . Agricultural output during the five-year period is sched-uled by the XVIIth Congress to increase from 13.1 billionrubles (in 1926-27 prices) to 26.2 billion rubles, i .e., a gain of100 per cent .

The most important branches of agriculture are to attainthe following level of output : grain-1,o48 million centners,with a yield of 1 o centners per hectare ; sugar beets-276million centners, with a yield of 200 centners per hectare ;cotton fiber-7 million centners, with a yield of irrigatedcotton of 12 centners per hectare ; flax fiber-8 million cent-ners, with a yield of 3.7 centners per hectare ; output of thelivestock industry to record an increase of 125 per cent .

6 . The Congress stresses the fact that the indicated growthof agricultural production can be attained only on the basisof the completion of collectivization and the technical recon-struction of agriculture in its entirety, which necessitates :

(a) The conversion of the grain, livestock, sugar-beet, cot-ton and other state farms into model agricultural enterpriseson the basis of persistent efforts to develop the technique oflarge-scale, mechanized farming, complete application of cor-rect crop rotation and seed selection, improvement of the cattlestock, improvement in the quality of production, and increasein the deliveries to the state of grain, sugar-beets, cotton, meat,

92


milk, butter, leather, and wool, and a marked improvement inthe whole organization of production, involving the breakingup of the very large state farms, the elimination of excessivespecialization, etc.

(b) An increase in the number of machine-tractor stationsfrom 2,446 in 1932 to 6,ooo in 1937, all collective farms tobe served by machine-tractor stations .

(c) An increase in the tractor park from 2,225,000 hp. in1932 to 8,200,000 hp. in 1937, i.e., a gain of 270 per cent ;the number of combines to reach 1oo,ooo and the number ofautomobiles in agriculture 170,000, i.e ., 6 and 12 times asmany, respectively, as in 1 932 -

(d) Further extensive mechanization of agriculture : in1937 tractors are to be used for plowing to the extent of 8oper cent and for cultivating to the extent of 70 per cent ;harvesting of grain is to be done by tractor harvesters to theextent of 6o per cent ; and threshing is to be mechanized 85per cent .

(e) The introduction on a broad scale of such measures as :correct crop rotation (loo per cent), sowing of selected seed(75 per cent of area sown to grain), fall plowing for springsowing (5o per cent) .

(f) An increase in the supply of nitrogenous fertilizersduring the second Five-Year Plan period : for cotton-from6 per cent of the sown area to 8o per cent ; for sugar beets-from 6 per cent to 40 per cent ; in the supply of phosphoricfertilizers from 9 per cent to the entire area ; extensive devel-opment of irrigation work, expanding the irrigated area by1,ooo,ooo hectares .

7 . The Congress sets the following increases in freightturnover by the basic branches of transportation : railway-from 16q billion ton-kilometers in 1932 to 300 billion ton-km .in 1937 ; river-from 26 to 63 billion ton-km . ; merchant

THE SECOND FIVE-YEAR PLAN (1933 -1937)

93

marine-from 18 to 51 billion ton-km . ; automotive-from1 to 16 billion ton-km .With a view to the more rational distribution of freight

haulage among the various branches of transportation, theCongress points to the necessity of raising the share in thefreight turnover of the country taken by new forms oftransportation-automotive and aviation transport-and alsoby water transport, with railway transportation still playingthe major role .

8. The Congress emphasizes the necessity for the technicalreconstruction of transportation and communications, whichmust be carried out along the following main lines :

(a) Reconstruction of the most important railway lines :electrification of 5,000 km. of railway lines, laying of about9,500 km . of double track on the most congested trunk lines(Ural-Kuzbas, Trans-Baikal and Ussurisk, Donbas, etc .) ; in-crease in the length of station lines at railway junctions andstations by 8,500 km . ; substitution of light by heavy rails overa distance of 20,000 km. ; extensive construction of bridges ;equipment of 8,300 km . of lines with automatic block sig-nalling ; strengthening of the existing road-beds (transition tothe use of rubble ballast, increase in number of ties per kilo-meter of line, etc .) .

(b) Increase in the number of locomotives from 19,500 in1932 to 24,600 in 1937, with a simultaneous transition tomore powerful and more efficient types of locomotives : thehigh-powered locomotive "FD" is to become in the secondFive-Year Plan period the basic unit of freight locomotives,and the powerful locomotive "JS" the basic unit of the passen-ger locomotives ; more extensive utilization of Diesel andelectric locomotives .

(c) The increase of freight cars from 552,000 in 1932 to8oo,ooo in 1937 (in two-axle units), with a considerable in-


crease in the share taken by large freight cars and the equip-ment of all freight cars with automatic brakes and not lessthan half With automatic couplings .

(d) Construction of the following important new railwaylines : Baikal-Amur trunk line, Akmolinsk-Kartaly, Moscow-Donbas, Karaganda-Balkhash, Ufa-Magnitnaya, and others ;increase of the total length of railway lines from 83,000 km .on Jan . 1, 1933, to 94,000 km . on Jan . 1, 1938 .

(e) Water transportation-Extensive construction of arti-ficial waterways or canals-the Baltic-White Sea canal, length227 km. (first section completed in the first year of the secondFive-Year Plan) ; the Moscow-Volga canal, length 127 km. ;the Volga-Don canal, length 100 km. Reconstruction of theMariinsk 1 and Moscow River waterways, which-togetherwith the carrying out of hydro-technical work on a big scaleon existing waterways (through route along the Dnieper,canalization of the Sozh River, reconstruction work on theMiddle Volga)-to insure in the main the reconstruction ofthe waterways and the creation of a unified network of water-ways in the European section of the U.S.S.R ., connecting theWhite, Baltic and Caspian Seas. The length of navigable water-ways is to increase during the second Five-Year Plan periodfrom 84,000 to 101,000 km., with considerable improvementin navigation conditions on such waterways . The mercantileand river fleets are to be radically renewed and reconstructed,and the building of shallow boats for use on small rivers is to bedeveloped .

(f) Automotive transport-Motor vehicles are planned toincrease from 75,000 cars on Jan . 1, 1933 to 580,000 cars onJan . 1, 1938, a growth of almost 700 per cent ; wide-scaleconstruction of a network of dirt and paved highways, withthe practical liquidation of the paucity of roads and an increase

I Important artificial waterway connecting the Volga and Neva Rivers.

THE SECOND FIVE-YEAR PLAN ( 1 933-1937) 95

in the total length of the road network of the country by21o,ooo km ., not counting the considerable amount of con-struction carried out by means of local resources .

(g) Civil aviation-The network of airlines of all-Unionsignificance is to grow from 32,000 to 85,000 km., i.e., anincrease of almost 200 per cent . At the same time there is tobe extensive construction of local airlines, bringing the lengthof such lines under exploitation in 1937 to 35,000 km .

(h) Marked progress is to be achieved in the mechanizationof loading and unloading operations in transportation, mecha-nization of such work in railway transportation to be trebled(from 18 to 57 per cent) and in water transportation approxi-mately quintupled (from 14 to 72 per cent for the mercantilemarine and from 12 to 56 per cent for river transport) .

(i) The Congress emphasizes the necessity of extensive de-velopment of all forms of communications, especially radio,and improvement in the quality thereof .

9. The increase in labor productivity during the second Five-Year Plan period in railway transportation is set at 43per cent and in water transportation at 86 per cent, and thedecrease in production costs for transportation as a whole at40 per cent, for railway transportation at 10.5 per cent, forwater transportation at 36 per cent, and for automotive trans-port at 54 per cent .

10 . A decisive prerequisite for the carrying out of thetechnical reconstruction program, the development of technique,and the fulfillment of the schedules for labor productivity isthe training of skilled workers, technicians and engineers. Ac-cordingly, the Congress sets up the following program for thetraining of skilled personnel during the second Five-Year Planperiod :

(a) The training of 5 million skilled workers, including2 .5 million in factory schools, over 1 .5 million in agricultural

96


schools and courses (tractorists, brigade leaders, etc.), and700,000 in schools and courses for chauffeurs .

(b) Graduation during the second Five-Year Plan periodof 340,000 specialists who will have completed the collegecourse, as against 170,700 during the first Five-Year Planperiod, an increase of zoo per cent, and of 850,000 specialistswho will have completed the secondary technical school (techni-cum), as compared with 308,000 in the first Five-Year Planperiod, an increase of almost 200 per cent .

(c) An increase in the number of skilled specialists in allbranches of the national economy from 2.7 million to 4.0million, a rise of 46.5 per cent ; the number of specialists inindustry to increase by 57 per cent, in transportation and com-munications by 6o per cent, and in agriculture by Ioo per cent .

I I . The Congress points out the need for extensive develop-ment of the work of scientific-technical institutes, particularlyfactory laboratories . Scientific-technical and inventive researchare to take an important part in the matter of introducingmodern technique, organizing the manufacture of new prod-ucts, and finding new methods of utilizing raw materials andpower.

PROGRAM OF NEW CONSTRUCTION

12 . The completion of the technical reconstruction of thenational economy and the fulfillment of the outlined produc-tion schedules in industry, agriculture and transportation neces-sitate the carrying out, during the period of the second Five-Year Plan, of a large construction program .

The XVIIth Congress of the Communist Party ratifies theprogram of construction during the second Five-Year Planperiod worked out by the State Planning Commission andconfirms the schedule for total outlay for capital constructionin the national economy during the second Five-Year Plan

THE SECOND FIVE-YEAR PLAN ( 1 933- 1937) 97

period of 133 .4 billion rubles (in 1933 prices), as comparedwith 50.5 billion rubles during the first Five-Year Plan period,to be distributed as follows :

(a) Industry-69 .5 billion rubles, as against 25 billionrubles during the first Five-Year Plan period ; for industrymanufacturing producers' goods-S3 .4 billion rubles, asagainst 21 .3 billion rubles, or an increase of 15o per cent ;for industry producing consumers' goods 16.1 billion rubles,as compared with 3 .5 billion rubles, or a gain of 36o per cent .

(b) Agriculture-15 .2 billion rubles, as against 9 .7 billionrubles during the first Five-Year Plan period, or an increaseof over 50 per cent .

(c) Transportation-26 .3 billion rubles, as against 8 .9billion rubles, or an increase of 200 per cent .

The Congress points out that the larger increase in capitalconstruction scheduled for light and food industries and fortransportation, as compared with that for other branches ofthe national economy, should result in a more rapid rate ofdevelopment for them .

13. The Congress endorses the putting into operation ofnew and reconstructed enterprises during the second Five-Year Plan period at a total cost of 132 billion rubles, as com-pared with 38.6 billion rubles in the first Five-Year Planperiod, distributed as follows: in industry-69.I billion rubles,as against 15 .7 billion rubles; in agriculture-15 .4 billionrubles, as compared with 9 .2 billion rubles; and in transporta-tion-25.6 billion rubles, as against 7 .7 billion rubles.

14. The scheduled volume of capital construction and theprogram for the starting of exploitation of new and recon-structed enterprises will result in a gigantic increase in the pro-ductive-technical capacity and the creation of necessary reservesof capacity in the most important branches of the nationaleconomy, viz. :

98


(a) The total basic capital is to increase during the five-year period from 85 billion rubles to 195 billions rubles (in

1 933 prices), an increase of 130 per cent, distributed as follows :industry-from 25 .5 to 77 .0 billion rubles; agriculture-from 11 .4 to 22.6 billion rubles ; transportation-from 19 .8to 38.5 billion rubles.

(b) In the most important branches of industry productivecapacity is to increase as follows : in the iron and steel industry(pig iron) by 130 per cent, the coal industry by over 100 percent, manufacture of generators by 140 per cent, the auto-mobile industry by almost 300 per cent, locomotive works by220 per cent, car-building plants by 290 per cent, regionalpower plants by 150 per cent, the shoe industry by 100 percent, the cotton textile industry by 50 per cent, the linen in-dustry by over loo per cent, the sugar industry by 50 percent, and in large meat-packing plants by 150 per cent .

15 . The Congress considers it necessary that special atten-tion be concentrated on the following most important con-struction works :

In machine-building-Completion of the following plants,the construction of which was commenced in the first Five-Year Plan : the Ural heavy machinery plant, annual capacity100,000 tons ; the Kramatorsk heavy machinery works, capac-ity 150,000 tons ; the Ural chemical apparatus plant ; theLugansk steam locomotive works, annual capacity ,,o8o "FD"locomotives; the Orsk steam and Diesel locomotive works,capacity 500 steam and 500 Diesel locomotives; the Kashiraelectric locomotive plant, capacity 300 main-line electric loco-motives; the Ural, Kuznetz and Irkutsk car-building plants,capacity of the first 54,000, of the latter two, 10,000 four-axle cars each ; the Ufa motor plant, capacity 50,000 motors ;the Kharkov turbogenerator plant, annual capacity 1 .5 millionkw. Expansion of the Gorky automobile plant to a capacity

THE SECOND FIVE-YEAR PLAN (1933 -1937) 99

of 300,000 cars, of the Stalin (AMO) automobile plant inMoscow to a capacity of 8o,ooo cars, of the Yaroslavl plantto a capacity of 25,000 five-ton trucks, etc . Constructionduring the second Five-Year Plan of the Ufa and Stalingradautomobile plants, annual capacity of each 1 oo,ooo three-tontrucks; Samara automobile plant, capacity 25,000 five-tontrucks; machine-building plants manufacturing grinding ma-chines, radial boring machines, gear-cutting machines, auto-matic and heavy machine tools; a new ball-bearing plant withannual capacity of 24 million bearings ; the Ural plant forthe manufacture of electrical apparatus and transformers ; agroup of plants for the manufacture of machinery for thetextile industry and of equipment for the food industry, etc .

In electrification-Construction of 79 regional powerplants, including completion of construction of the followingplants : Zuevka (250,000 kw.) ; Gorky (204,000 kw.) ;Shatura (18o,ooo kw .) ; Dubrovka (i oo,ooo kw.) ; Svir No .3 (96,ooo kw.) ; Dnieproges (558,ooo kw.) ; Constructionof several new large central stations : Stalinogorsk (400,000kw.) ; Kemerovo (148,000 kw.) ; several new, powerful sta-tions in the Donetz Basin ; the following hydroelectric sta-tions : Chirchik No. i ( 170,000 kw.) ; Kanakir (88,oookw.) ; Khram River (6o,ooo kw.) ; Svir No . 2 (144,000kw.) ; Tuloma ; etc. Further construction work on the powerplants of the Middle Volga project: Yaroslavl (1 oo,ooo kw.) ;Perm (31o,ooo kw.) ; Gorky (200,000 kw.) . Constructionof a number of large heating plants for the central heatingof cities-the Moscow-Narvak and Okhta in Leningrad, theStalin and Frunze in Moscow, the Sormovo-Kanavino, theKrasnozavodsk in Kharkov, and others ; and of a number oflarge factory power plants of regional significance-Mag-nitogorsk (198,ooo kw.), Kuznetz (1o8,ooo kw .), andothers.

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In the coal industry-Extensive construction of large minesand the starting of operations of 178 mines, with an annualcapacity of 143 million tons of coal .

In the oil industry-Construction of a new group of oilrefineries (46 pipe stills for primary refining, 93 crackingunits) . Construction of pipe lines for oil and oil products witha total length of over 4,000 km .

Development of construction in the peat and shale indus-try .

In the iron and steel industry-Completion of constructionof the Magnitogorsk plant to a capacity of 2 .7 million tonsof pig iron, and of the Kuznetz, Zaporozhye, Nizhne-Tagil,Azovstal, Krivoy Rog, Lipetsk, Tula and other plants . Con-tinuation of construction work on and start of operations ofthe first units of the Bakal, Khalilovo, second Kuznetz andFar Eastern plants, and of several pipe-rolling mills, etc .

In the non-ferrous metals industry-Lake Balkhash coppercombine (capacity ioo,ooo tons) ; Central Ural (50,000tons) . Completion of construction of the Kazakstan (6o,oootons of lead) and Altai lead and zinc plants, the Cheliabinsk,Ordzhonikidze and Kemerovo zinc plants, etc ., completion ofVolkhov and Dnieper aluminum plants ; construction of newaluminum plants-Ural (25,000 tons) and Karelian (8,oootons) ; construction of magnesium, nickel and other enterprisesin the nonferrous metals industry .

In the chemical industry-Construction of new fertilizerand synthetic rubber plants and of factories manufacturingsoda, sulphuric acid, rubber goods, plastics, aniline and lacquerdyes, artificial fiber, etc .

In light industry-Construction of 15 large cotton textileenterprises, including the Tashkent, Barnaul, Khodzhent,Chardzhui and Transcaucasian combines, with an annualcapacity of 200,000 spindles each ; 12 large woolen mills, each


with a capacity of from 8 to 15 million meters of cloth, 12linen mills, with a capacity of from 18,ooo to 27,000 spindleseach ; 18 large enterprises of the knit-goods industry ; 11 silkmills ; and 21 shoe factories with a capacity of loo millionpairs .

In the food industry-Completion of 17 meat-packingplants, the construction of which was started in the first Five-Year Plan ; commencement of construction work on 23 newcombines; construction of a large number of sugar mills, 6soap factories, of canneries, vegetable oil refineries, candyfactories, etc. ; a large increase in the fishing fleet .

In the timber industry-Construction of a large number ofsaw-mills, wood-distillation plants, etc . ; completion of con-struction of the Kama and Kondopoga cellulose-paper com-bines and the Syas cellulose plant ; construction of the Bashkirand Krasnoyarsk paper mills, etc .

Extensive construction and reconstruction of thousands ofenterprises of local industry manufacturing consumers' goods,with an investment during the five-year period of about 2billion rubles .

In municipal construction-Extensive work in civic develop-ment; construction of thousands of apartment houses withapartments equipped with all conveniences and with a totaldwelling space of 64 million square meters ; development ofwork in the field of city planning, improvement of municipaltransportation, water supply and sewage systems, street paving,planting of trees and shrubbery, etc . Construction of Housesof Soviets, houses of technique, parks for culture and rest,stadia, theaters, clubhouses, moving-picture theaters ; construc-tion in Moscow of the Palace of Soviets and the first subwayin the Soviet Union, the first line of which is to start opera-tions in 1935 .

16. The scheduled program' for the extensive development

102


of new construction necessitates marked advances in the allo-cation of productive forces :

(a) On the basis of the development of old industrial cen-ters there are being created new bases of industrialization inthe eastern regions of the Union (Urals, West and East Si-beria, Bashkiria, Far Eastern Region, Kazakstan and CentralAsia), where intensive development is under way in themachine-building, metallurgical, coal, oil, power and otherbranches of industry . About half of all the capital investmentsfor new construction in heavy industry are to be expended inthe Eastern regions. In 1937 the eastern regions are toaccount for one-third of the output of pig iron, as againstone-fourth in 1932, for more than one-third of the output ofcoal, as compared with one-fourth in 1932, for about one-fifthof the total power output (of regional power plants), as against6.5 per cent in 1932, and for one-tenth of the output of themachine-building industry, as compared with 5 per cent in1932 .

(b) Completion of construction of the second coal-metal-lurgical base of the Union, the Ural-Kuznetz combine, onthe construction of which there is to be expended during thesecond Five-Year Plan period about one-fourth of total capitalinvestments in the national economy of the U .S.S.R. and morethan one-third of all capital investments in heavy industry .The Ural-Kuznetz combine is to account in 1937 for one-third of the output of the iron and steel industry, more thanone-fourth of the total coal output of the country, one-sixthof the total production of power by regional power plants, andabout one-tenth of the output of the machine-building industry .

(c) Allocation of industry in closer proximity to the sourcesof raw material on the basis of the development of new in-dustrial regions . Thus, out of the total of fifteen cottontextile mills to be constructed during the second Five-Year


Plan period ten are scheduled to be constructed in Central Asia,Siberia and Transcaucasia in order to provide for a twenty-fold increase in the output of cotton cloth in Central Asia, ascompared with an average increase for the U .S.S.R . as awhole of 140 per cent, and to constitute a sound foundationfor textile production in these regions . In the linen industrylarge plants for the working up of flax are being erected inWhite Russia and in the Western and Gorky Regions. Thereare being created new raw material bases on the foundationof which new sugar mills are to be constructed (West Siberia,Kirghizia, Far Eastern Region, Transcaucasia, etc .) . In theprincipal centers of production of agricultural raw materialsthere are being built leather, woolen, vegetable oil and otherenterprises in the light and food industries . The output ofvarious types of local fuel is to be increased in order to lessenthe dependence of a number of districts on fuel transportedfrom distant points .

(d) In agriculture-Considerable increase in grain outputin the basic grain districts, start of work on the extensive irri-gation of the Trans-Volga section, and creation of a soundwheat base in the central and northern districts ; an enormousincrease in the output of industrial crops in the principal re-gions where they are now grown, and also the creation of anew sugar-beet base in the East; extensive development of newhigh-value crops, particularly in the sub-tropical districts-allaimed to provide the solution of the problem of the correct allo-cation of the principal branches of agriculture and the spe-cialization of districts according to crops and branches ofagriculture.

(e) In transportation-Together with the reconstructionand strengthening of the principal transportation lines extend-ing east and south from the center, the construction of a largegroup of new railway lines and waterways connecting the new

104


industrial centers with the national transportation networkand constituting the basis for the economic development ofnew regions (the Karaganda-Balkhash, Ufa-Sterlitamak,Rubtsevka-Ridder and Tomsk-Chulym railway lines, theBaltic-White Sea canal, etc.) .

(f) Extensive industrial construction in regions formerlybackward in an industrial sense, such as the Middle VolgaRegion, Tatar Republic, North Caucasian Region, CentralBlack Soil Region, Transcaucasia, Karelia, Murmansk district,Far Eastern and East Siberian Regions, etc ., on the basis ofthe development of large-scale industry in these regions .

(g) Intensive development of construction in the field ofeducation, health, art and the press in the republics and areasinhabited by the national minorities .

(h) Further development of the old industrial regions ofthe U.S.S.R. on the basis of a continuation of the specializa-tion begun in the first Five-Year Plan period and a moreequalized allocation of industry within these regions .

The Congress declares that the scheduled program forthe allocation of productive forces in the second Five-YearPlan period is directed toward overcoming the economic andcultural backwardness of the national republics and areas, amore equalized distribution of the productive forces and thebringing of industry into closer proximity to the sources ofraw material, the specialization of the principal regions ac-cording to agricultural crops and branches of agriculture, andthe completion of the division of the country as a whole intoregions based on economic lines .

PROGRAM FOR RAISING THE MATERIAL AND CULTURAL

LEVEL OF THE WORKERS AND PEASANTS

The Congress, approving the program of the State Plan-ning Commission in this regard, sets the following tasks in


respect to raising the material and cultural level of the workersand peasants :

i . (a) Increase of 26 per cent in the number of wage-earners in all branches of the national economy by the end ofthe second Five-Year Plan ; in large-scale industry of 29 percent .

(b) Increase in real wages of loo per cent, based on thecomplete liquidation of non-productive consumption, a rapidgrowth of the national income, an increase in the consumptionnorms for such products as meat, fats, fish, eggs, sugar, andmanufactured goods of 150 per cent, a decrease in retail pricesof 35 per cent, and a further improvement in the living condi-tions of the workers .

(c) Increase of 55 per cent in the total wage fund of allwage-earners in the entire national economy ; of 64 per centin that of those employed in large-scale industry .

(d) Considerable increase in state expenditures for ad-vancing the material and cultural welfare of the workers, i.e .,expenditures for social insurance and state expenditures foreducation, health, and other social and cultural services for theworkers, such expenditures to rise during the five-year periodfrom 4.3 to 9.3 billion rubles, an increase of 115 .5 per cent .

(e) Increase of 150 per cent in the number of workers oftown and village served by socialized restaurants .

(f) During the second Five-Year Plan period not only isthe elimination of illiteracy of the entire population of theUnion, the elimination of semi-literacy of the adult, able-bodied population, and the introduction of universal, compul-sory elementary education to be put into effect, but universal,compulsory polytechnical education embracing the seven-yearcourse is to be introduced in the village as well as the town,this work having been basically completed so far as the town isconcerned during the course of the first Five-Year Plan .

io6


The total number of students (in primary and intermediateschools, workers' faculties, factory schools, technicums, col-leges, and universities) is to increase to 36 million, as against24.2 million in 1932, or to 197 per 1,ooo inhabitants, as com-pared with 147 per 1,ooo, not counting preschool institutions,which in 1932 embraced 5 .2 million children .

(g) Extensive development of mass extramural education,closely connected with the organization of the leisure time ofthe workers for purposes of cultural advancement ; increase inthe number of clubs in town and village from 6,8oo to 10,900(the increase in towns amounting to 10.5 per cent, in villagesto 130 per cent) and in the number of public libraries from15,000 in 1932 to 25,000-

(h) Considerable further advancement in the field ofhealth preservation of the workers, involving first of all theextensive introduction of sanitary-prophylactic measures ; in-crease in expenditures for health preservation, workers' leisure,and physical culture from 5 .4 billion rubles in the first Five-Year Plan period to 19.6 billion rubles in the second .

Increase of 44 per cent in the number of hospital beds intowns and of 98 per cent in the number of those in ruraldistricts ; increase of 164 per cent in the number of places inday nurseries in towns and of 129 per cent in the number ofthose in rural communities .

(i) Increase during the five-year period in the number oftowns with water systems from 366 to 440 ; of towns withsewage systems from 55 to 125 ; of towns with street-carservice from 50 to 70 -

(j) Accordingly, capital investments in construction formunicipal, housing and cultural needs during the second Five-Year Plan period are set at about 32 billion rubles, or aboutone-fourth of all the capital investments in the national econ-omy of the U.S.S.R ., to be distributed as follows : housing-


13 .4 billion rubles, municipal construction-6 .2 billion rubles,education-3 .1 billion rubles, health preservation-2 .9 billionrubles .

2. The program calls for the development of commodityturnover on the basis of increased production of manu-factured goods of general consumption and improvement inthe provisioning of the towns with agricultural produce .

Consequently, this Congress calls for :(a) An increase in commodity turnover of 1 50 per cent,

rising from 31 .9 billion rubles in 1932 to 8o billion rubles in1 937 (1932 prices), with a gain in output of consumers'goods produced by the light and food industries of 150 percent.

(b) An increase in the retail trade network of state andco-operative organizations of 37 per cent, with a simultaneouscarrying out of its technical reconstruction .

(c) Lowering of the average level of retail prices by 35per cent, as compared with 1 933-

3. The Congress sets the growth of the national income at120 per cent (from 45 .5 to 10o billion rubles) and the growthof the consumption fund in the national income at 140 percent, accompanied by a tremendous increase in the capitalaccumulations of socialized economy and also a growth ofstate reserves.

The Congress emphasizes the fact that the basis of eco-nomic activity should be the introduction of economic ac-counting in all links of the national economy, the improve-ment in planning and financial discipline, and the furtherstrengthening of the Soviet ruble, the most important leverfor the strengthening of economic accounting and of the eco-nomic bonds between town and village .

During the second Five-Year Plan the U .S.S.R. is takinga big step forward in the matter of outliving the age-old con-

io8


tradiction of human society-the contradiction between townand village-and is creating all the necessary prerequisites forthe elimination of this contradiction . Agriculture is assumingthe same social form as industry ; agricultural labor is beingtransformed into a variety of industrial labor ; there is a tre-mendous expansion of the transportation links between cityand village ; the rates of increase of industrial and agriculturalproduction are becoming much more nearly identical ; the ma-terial and cultural standards of the toilers of town and villageare approaching the same level .

VII

INDUSTRY

ORGANIZATION OF INDUSTRY

All large-scale industry in the U .S .S .R. is state-owned oroperated by cooperative organizations . The state industries,which account for over 85 per cent of the total industrial out-put of the country and include all of the important enterprises,are under the supervision of the four industrial commissariats(Heavy Industry, Light Industry, Food Industry and TimberIndustry) and the Procurements Committee of the Councilof People's Commissars (mainly flour-milling plants) . OnJanuary I, 1933 there were in the U .S.S.R. 23,508 large-scaleenterprises (exclusive of the lumber industry and fisheries), ofwhich 12,283 turned out producers' goods and 11,225 con-sumers' goods. Of the total number of enterprises, 720 formedpart of the fuel industry, 3,449-the metallurgical andmachine industries, 964-mining and mineral industries, 8go--chemical industry, 2,456-building materials, 1,349-tex-tiles, 4,995-the food industry, etc. Sixty-eight per cent of theindustries (producing 74 per cent of the output) were in theR.S.F.S.R . ; 21 per cent (accounting for 18 per cent of theproduction) were in the Ukraine and the remainder scatteredamong the other republics . There are also many thousands ofsmall industrial enterprises, not included in the above enumera-tion, operated mainly by producers' cooperatives and collectives.Small-scale (non-census) industries account for about eight percent of total industrial output.

1o9

I I0


Production of large-scale industry in 1934 amounted to49.5 billion rubles. and output of small-scale industry to 4 .4billion rubles. In 1933 output of the producers' cooperativestotaled 5 .6 billion rubles, the bulk of the output being accountedfor by small-scale enterprises .

The fixed capital of large-scale industry more than doubledin the period from October 1, 1928 to January 1, 1934, in-creasing from ten billion to 28 .9 billion rubles. Of the produc-tive basic capital of industry on January 1, 1933, 71 per centhad been built or installed after October 1, 1925 .

The four industrial commissariats are subdivided into anumber of administrations, each of which supervises a particularbranch of industry or some special functional activity . For in-stance, there are 33 chief administrations in the Commissariatfor Heavy Industry, including such organizations as Gutap-Chief Administration of the Tractor and Automobile Industry ;Glavmashprom-machine-building industry ; Glavneft-oil in-dustry ; Glavugol-coal industry ; Glavenergo-power indus-try, etc . There are also chief administrations which supervisethe supplying of food and other commodities to industrial en-terprises (Gurs), and the lower and technical schools underthe control of the Commissariat (Guuz) .

The remaining commissariats are divided similarly . TheCommissariat for the Timber Industry, for instance, combineseleven chief administrations, among them Glavlesoexport-incharge of lumber exports ; Glavbumprom-paper industry ;Glavspichprom-match industry, etc. The chief administra-tions exercise general supervision over the operations of thetrusts (combinations of enterprises in a given industry, cover-ing either a particular territory or, in some cases, the entirecountry) . The individual enterprises, in turn, are subordinatedto the trusts. Many of the largest enterprises, however, aredirectly subordinated to the chief administrations.

INDUSTRY

III

FUEL

IN PREWAR Russia Donetz coal, Caucasus oil, and wood con-stituted practically the entire fuel base of the country. Localfuel resources, such as low-grade coal, peat, oil shale, etc .,were utilized only to an insignificant extent. Leningrad andthe northwestern region, one of the largest industrial centers,depended almost exclusively on coal imported from GreatBritain . Imports of coal from that country totaled 7.8 milliontons in 1913. The world and civil wars wrought havoc withthe fuel production of the U.S.S.R ., but beginning with1921-22 the consolidation and development of the country'sfuel base was undertaken . By the year 1927-28 the pre-war level had been exceeded, marked progress had been madein the utilization of local fuel, and imports of foreign coal hadbeen practically discontinued .

It was during the subsequent period, that of the first Five-Year Plan, that the most rapid progress was made in establish-ing a fuel base adequate for the supply of the country's needs .Extensive construction and reconstruction work was carried on,new fuel bases were established linked up with large industrialcenters or combines, utilization of local fuel resources wasgreatly extended, and improved methods of using the variouskinds of fuel were worked out . By the end of the first Five-Year Plan period local fuel constituted 30 per cent of totalconsumption in the Leningrad Region and 46 per cent in theMoscow Region . Of the total 1932 output of power by re-gional power plants throughout the U .S.S.R. 55.6 per cent wasproduced by plants using local fuel (peat, low-grade coal, etc .) .The output of low-grade coal for the entire U .S.S.R . amountedto 12 .2 million tons in 1932, as against 6.7 million tons in1927-28 and 2.8 million tons in 1913. Similarly, the produc-tion of peat for industrial purposes reached 13 .85 million tons

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in 1932, as compared with 5 .3 and 1 .5 million tons in 1927-28and 1913, respectively .

In 1932 total fuel output (excluding timber and peat fordomestic use) amounted to ioo.6 million tons of standardfuel 1), as against 56 .8 million tons in 1927-28, an increase of77 per cent. Consumption of fuel in the country rose from

53 .2 million tons in 1927-28 to 96 million tons in 1932 .The following table shows the share in output of fuel of the

various types of fuel (in per cent of total) :

The Five-Year Plan program for fuel was fulfilled 97 percent. Coal output fell below schedule, while that of wood,peat and fuel oil exceeded the schedule . The rapid increase inthe number of tractors and automobiles in the country neces-sitated that fuel oil be given a larger share in total fuel outputthan was originally allotted . The creation of a second coal-metallurgical base-the Ural-Kuznetz combine-gave a de-cided impetus to development of the Kuznetz and Karagandacoal basins . Extensive construction work was executed andrapid advances in mechanization of coal production were madeduring the first Five-Year Plan .

The second Five-Year Plan calls for large increases in theoutput of all types of fuel . Total output will amount to 196million tons of conditional fuel in 1937, a gain of 10o percent over 1932 . Wood and oil are expected to decline in rela-

1 1 metric ton of standard fuel is equivalent to 7 million calories .

1932-33

TYPE oP FUEL 1913 1927-28 1932

(Five-YearPlan)

1937

Wood, for industrial and technicalpurposes 25 .2 17 .4 13 .6 10 .8

(program)

10 .1Peat 1 .4 3 .8 5 .6 5 .3 5 .4Oil Shale - - 0.1 - 0.4Coal 54.5 6o.5 6o .8 66 .5 68 .zFuel Oils 18 .9 18 .3 19 .9 17 .4 15 .9

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

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tive importance in the fuel balance and coal to increase-theexpansion in coal production is set at 137 per cent as against102 per cent for all fuels combined . The percentage growthin fuel consumption by principal classes of consumers is plannedas follows : for coking-120 ; power plants-141 ; railroads-66 ; other consumers-7o. The reconstruction of heating sys-tems, the growth of electrification and the increasing sharetaken by hydroelectric power, the utilization of many indus-trial by-products as fuel (coke oven and blast furnace gases),etc., are expected to effect large economies in the consumptionof primary fuels in production .

COAL

The coal industry of the U .S .S.R. suffered perhaps mostof all from the effects of the world and civil wars . Themines of the Donetz Basin, which supplied 9o per cent of theprewar output, were for a time in the hands of the Germansand thereafter in the center of the civil war zone . Production in1920 was only slightly over one-fourth of the prewar figure .Beginning with 1921, however, output started to gain, by1927 already exceeded the 1913 output by 13 per cent, andby 1932 was 2 .3 times and by 1 934 3.2 times as great. Whilein 1927 the U.S .S.R. occupied seventh place among thecountries of the world as regards coal output, it now occupiesfourth place, being exceeded only by Germany, Great Britainand the United States .

COAL OUTPUT

YEAR

ANTHRACITEAND-SEMI-ANTHRACITE

BROWN COALBITUMINOUS

AND LIGNITEn million metric ton

TOTALr

1913 - -

- 29.11921-22 -2.2 7.0

1 .5 10.71922-23 2 .3 8 .o

1.8 12.1

1923-24 3 .5 10.9

1.5 15 .9

1924-25 3 .3 11 .5

1.5 16.3


While the Donetz Basin still supplies the bulk of the output,its share declined from 9o per cent in 1913 to 64 per cent in1934 and is expected to drop to 52 .5 per cent by 1937 . This isdue to the fact that, simultaneously with intensive developmentof the Donetz Basin, the Soviet Government is devoting con-siderable attention to the development of other coal fields, someof which were entirely unknown in prewar Russia . The Kuz-netz Basin, which in 1913 produced only 878,000 tons, at-tained an output of 11 .6 million tons in 1934 . The share of thevarious coal basins in total output in 1913, 1927-28 and 1932and the program for 1937 are shown in the following table :

YEAR

ANTHRACITEAND-SEMI-

ANTHRACITEBROWN COAL

BITUMINOUS

AND LIGNITE TOTALin million metric tan.,

1925-z6 5 .4 18 .o 2 .2 25 .61926-z7 6 .9 22 .6 z .6 32 .11927-28 8 .o 24.3 2 .8 35 .11928-z9 9 .6 z6 .8 3 .1 39 .51930 12 .0 31 .0 4 .0 47 .0

1931 - - 6.o 55 .41932 - - 6.9 64 .3

1933 - - 8.9 76 .3

1934 (prelim.) - - - 93 .51937 (prog.) - - - 152 .5

r-19r3-~ r-X977-78-1 1-1932-- r-1937 PI-91-05--,

Coal Basin

OUTPUT

(inmill.tons)

SHAREOF OUTPUT SHAREOF OUTPUT SHAREOP OUTPUT SHARFOFTOTAL

(inper tent)

(inmill.tore)

TOTAL(in

per cent)

(inmill .tons)

TOTAL(in

per cant)

(inmill.tons)

TOTAL(in

per cant)

Donetz 25 .3 88 .8 27 .3 77 .3 43 .8 68 .z 8o.o 52 .5Kuznetz o .8 z .8 2 .5 7 .1 7 .0 11 .0 20 .0 13 .1Ural 1 .2 4 .2 2 .0 5 .7 3 .1 4 .8 13 .0 8 .6Moscow 0.4 1 .4 1 .1 3 .1 2.9 4.4 10.0 6.5Karaganda - - - - 0.7 1 .1 7 .0 4 .6Far East 0 .3 1 .1 1 .1 3 .1 1 .9 2.9 6.5 4.3East Siberia 0.4 1 .4 0.9 2 .5 2 .2 3 .4 4.5 2.9Central Asia 0 .1 0 .3 0 .3 0 .9 0.7 1 .1 3 .0 2.0Others - - 0.1 0.3 2.0 3 .1 8.5 5.5

Total 28 .5 100 .0 35 .3 100 .0 64 .3 100 .0 152.5 100.0

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The increase in output is the result of the reconstructionand improved operation of old mines, construction of newpits in old fields and development of new fields. During theperiod of the first Five-Year Plan capital investments in thecoal industry totaled 1 .8 billion rubles, as against 1 .25 billionscheduled by the Plan . During the four and one-fourth years179 new pits with a capacity of S7 million tons, commencedoperations. The construction of an additional 186 new mineswas started in this period. In 1933 new pits accounted for 37per cent of the total output, as compared with only 2 .5 percent in 1927-28 . In 1934 they were scheduled to account for

43 per cent. Some of the new pits have an annual capacity ofone million tons and over, whereas prior to the first Five-YearPlan the output of the largest pits did not exceed 6oo,ooo tons .

In 1933 and 1934 there were put into operation 69 newmines with a total capacity of 34 million tons. Production in-creased by 45 per cent during the two years .

Mechanization of coal production recorded rapid progressduring the first Five-Year Plan. For the country as awhole the proportion of coal produced by coal-cutting machinesincreased from 15 .7 per cent in 1927-28 to 65 .5 per cent in1932, and for the Donetz Basin from 18.4 to 71 .9 per cent.In 1934 the proportion was raised to over 75 per cent. TheU.S.S.R. now ranks third, after Germany and the UnitedStates in respect to mechanized coal cutting . This progress hasbeen recorded largely through the increased use of heavy cut-ting machines and pneumatic pick hammers. The number ofthe former increased from 550 on October 1, 1928, to 1,679by the end of 1933, and of the latter from 71 in 1928 to10,764 at the end of 1 933 .

In addition to the investments in mechanization and indus-trial construction and reconstruction, large sums of moneyhave been expended on improving the miners' material and cul-

116

HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION`

tural conditions . Wages of Soviet coal miners doubled duringthe four years 1928 to 1932 . Dwelling space increased in thesame period from 2,050,000 sq . meters to 5,222,000 sq .meters, an increase of 16o per cent, whereas the number ofworkers increased by 58 per cent . An additional 15 millioncubic meters of water storage capacity and hundreds of kilome-ters of new water mains have greatly improved the watersupply of the mining communities . Numerous schools, club-houses, theaters, kitchen factories and other municipal buildingshave been constructed in the coal-mining areas . These improve-ments have tended to lessen the high labor turnover, one of themost serious difficulties with which the coal industry has had tocontend. Another drawback has been inadequate supervisionand training of the workers in the operation of the many newmachines installed in recent years. The reorganization of theindustry, instituted in accordance with a decree of April 8,1 933, was designed to overcome this drawback by reducingoverhead administration and resulted in the transfer of hundredsof competent mining engineers from offices to undergroundwork with a simultaneous raise in their salaries . All coal minersreceived a further increase in wages, and the piece-work andbonus system was readjusted .

During the second Five-Year Plan special stress is being laidon the further mechanization of production, particularly ofthose labor processes which have as yet not been mechanized oronly to a small extent .

There is to be a further shift toward the East in the de-velopment of the industry (Urals, Siberia, Kazakstan) . Newcoal regions are being created in the Far North (Pechora andSpitzbergen) . Extensive new construction is planned, 178 largemines with a combined annual capacity of 143 million tonsbeing scheduled to start operation during the five-year period .By the end of 1937 the basic capital of the coal industry is

INDUSTRY

11 7

expected to be more than double the 1932 figure, while outputin 1937 is to reach 152.5 million tons, 2.4 times productionin 1932. Capital investments are set at 3 .5 billion rubles, asagainst 1 .8 billion in the first Plan. By the end of the periodit is expected that cutting will be 93 per cent mechanized,hauling-9o per cent, loading-2o per cent and surface work-6o per cent. Labor productivity is expected to increase by91 per cent (from 13 .8 tons monthly output per worker inthe industry to 26.3 tons) .

American engineers have taken an important part in therationalization of the Soviet coal industry . Among the Ameri-can firms which have furnished technical assistance to the So-viet coal industry are : Stuart, James & Cooke, Inc., Allen &Garcia Company and Roberts & Schaefer Company .

COKE

The development of the coke industry being of vital impor-tance for iron and steel production, considerable sums havebeen invested in this field . During the period of the first Five-Year Plan twenty-three new coke-oven batteries were built,with a combined annual capacity of 5 .5 million tons. Thesecoke plants have been erected for the most part in connectionwith the large steel mills, such as the Stalinsk, Magnitogorsk,Petrovsky and Voroshilov mills. The new coke installationshave been constructed according to the latest technique andhave the most up-to-date equipment. Their annual capacityranges from 400,000 to 1,300,000 tons a year, as against amaximum capacity of prewar plants of 560,000 and an aver-age of 150,000 tons. The Koppers Construction Company ofPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has rendered technical assistance inthe erection of the Magnitogorsk and other large coke plants .Not only have new plants been constructed but production inold plants has been increased through improved methods ofequipment. As a result output has recorded steady growth,

118


more than doubling during the first Five-Year Plan period .Production figures are given below :

OUTPUT

The total capacity of all coke plants at the end of 1932amounted to 13 .7 million tons, double the prewar figure (6 .7million tons) . Moreover, 9o per cent of the present capacity isaccounted for by ovens of the by-product type, as against 55per cent before the war . Kuznetz coke has proved to be ofhigher quality than Donetz coke ; therefore, particular em-phasis is now being placed on the development of the cokeindustry in the Kuznetz coal basin .

During the second Five-Year Plan coke output is scheduledto show a gain of 182 per cent-from 8,409,000 tons in1932 to 23,700,000 tons in 1937 . In 1933, the first year ofthe Plan, the actual increase was 24.3 per cent, while in 1 934the increase over the previous year amounted to 36 per cent .

OIL

The principal oil regions in the U .S .S.R . are the Baku andGrozny fields, which account for nearly 95 per cent of thetotal production . The Baku field is the oldest oil region in theSoviet Union, having been producing continuously since 1863 .The Baku field is situated in Azerbaidzhan, Transcaucasia, onthe west shore of the Caspian Sea ; the Grozny field in theNorth Caucasus . The fields ranking next in order as regardsoutput are Maikop (also in the North Caucasus, in the Kuban-Black Sea section) and Emba (in Kazakstan, at the north endof the Caspian Sea) .

YEAR1927-z81929 -30

(metric tons)4,041,0006,ooo,ooo

1 932 8,409,0001933 10,450,0001934 (prelim .) 14,200,0001937 (program) 23,700,000

2 1921 .•

1928-29.

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119

In May, 1920, when the petroleum industry was national-ized, production was at an exceedingly low ebb. By meansof a thoroughgoing reorganization and substantial capitalinvestments during the succeeding years the oil industry wasbrought to a position considerably in advance of the pre-warlevel prior to the first Five-Year Plan . The totaloutput, which had fallen in 1920 to 3.8 million tons, wasbrought up to 12.3 million tons by 1928, an increase of one-third over 1913, when production amounted to 9.2 milliontons. The rate of development of the industry was acceleratedduring the period of the Five-Year Plan . By 1931 output to-taled 22 .3 million tons, nearly double the 1928 figure, andhalf a million tons in excess of the schedule for the end ofthe five-year period . Rapid progress was made also in oil re-fining. In 1932 over 9o per cent of the crude oil was run tostills, as against 61 .7 per cent in 1913 and 75 per cent in1927-28 .

The Soviet Union now ranks second, after the UnitedStates, in both the production and consumption of oil . It is thethird largest exporter, after the United States and the DutchWest Indies . However, as far as European consumption isconcerned, the U .S.S.R. ranks second as a supplier, accountingin 1931 for 18 per cent of total European oil imports .

The growth in output and exports of oil is given below :

YEAR

OUTPUT OF

CRUDE OIL

CRUDE OIL RUN DOMESTICTO STILLS CONSUMPTION EXPORTS

N

DRILLING

(in thous .meters)i 'n thousand ton

1913 9,234.1 5,702 .4 5,638 .0 947 .7 276 .61920-2I 3,780.6 2,800 .0 - 30.3 2 5 .91 923-24 5,957 .7 - 3,475 .0 749 .5 123 .21925-26 8,246 .0 5,943 .0 5,566 .0 1,473 .8 z88 .61927-28 11,720.0 8,846 .0 6,861 .0 2,728 .2 362 .01929 14,253 .0 11,653 .6 8,452 .0 3,816 .4 446 .0

120


4 Including gas, the totals for 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934 and 1937 are calculated at 23 .3,22 .3, 23 .0, 25 .6 and 46 .8 million tons, respectively .

From 1931 to 1933 oil production was practically stable,the failure to fulfill the program being caused in part by ashortage of equipment . However, this deficiency has to someextent been overcome, and in 1934 the output, totaling 24 ;200,000 tons, was 12 .7 per cent in advance of the precedingyear. Drilling operations totaled 1,256,000 meters and were48.5 per cent above those for 1 933 .

Production in recent years, by principal trusts, has been asfollows :

1930

1931

1933

1934

During the five years 1929-1933 about 100 million tonsof crude oil were produced, as against 85 .6 million scheduledfor the first Five-Year period . The number of wells in opera-tion increased from 4,760 in 1928 to 5,986 by the end of1932. In 1934 practically the entire output was obtained from

OUTPUT OFYEAR

CRUDE OILCRUDE OIL RUN DOMESTIC

TO STILLS CONSUMPTION EXPORTSDRILLING(in thous .meters)'n thousand tons

1930 18,565 .o 16,177.8

10,57 1 .0 4,803 .0 639 .31931 22,323 .6 4 19,918.6

12,524.0 5,280 .0 701 .31932 21,396 .7 4 20,213 .4

14,443 .0 6,044 .0 757 .81932- 33 (tat

Five-YearPlan) 21,700.0 19,100.0

- - -1933 21,433 .5 4 18,517 .5

- 4,894.5 835 .51934 (Pre-1937 (Pro-

lim.) 24,150.5 20,735 .2

- 4,314.8 1,256 .2gram) 44,300 .0` 38,000.0

- - 3,972 .0

TRUST I in thousand tons N

Azneft (Baku) 10,520 .8 12,i8i .o 15,325 .3 19,182 .8Grozneft (Grozny) 6,927 .9 7,709 .8 4,870 .0 3,371 .5Maineft (Maikop) 416 .3 946 .8 6o8 .o 938 .2Embaneft (Emba) 349 .0 248 .0 194 .7 239 .1Others 351 .0 311 .3 433 .6 418 .9

18,565 .o 21,396 .9 21,431 .6 24,150 .5

INDUSTRY

III

wells drilled under the Soviet regime ; 42 per cent came fromoil-bearing areas for the most part unknown in pre-war times .The past few years have witnessed the bringing into produc-tion of highly productive areas in both old and new regions .The former include Malgobek in the Grozny field and Kalaand Lok-Batan, famous for its powerful gushers, in the Bakufield. Among the most promising locations already being de-veloped in new regions are those in the Urals (Ukhta, Sterlita-mak), Kazakstan (Emba), Turkmenistan (Neftedag), andon Sakhalin Island .

Another important factor in the growth of the off industryhas been the introduction of modern technical methods, suchas deep pumping instead of bailing, rotary and turbine drillingin place of the old and costly percussion methods, the use ofelectricity instead of steam, etc . The proportion of oil extractedby the old method of bailing declined from 94 .1 per cent in1913 to 6 .3 per cent in 1927-28 and to 0 .3 per cent in 1932 .The new methods of drilling accounted for 99 per cent ofall drilling done in 1933 . A Soviet engineer, M. A. Kapel-yushnikov, is the inventor of the turbo-drill, which is said toexcel the rotary drill . Production has been mechanized to ahigh degree, electric power now being used almost 10o per cent.

Especial progress has been recorded in oil refining, whichwas at a very low level of development in the prewar period .The methods employed were primitive, pipe still and crackingplants being entirely unknown . The introduction of modernrefining methods has proceeded rapidly since 1924 . In thenumerous up-to-date refining plants which have been con-structed in recent years American equipment and technicalassistance have been used considerably . As a result of improvedfacilities, marked progress has been made in increasing theoutput of light products, especially gasoline . Moreover, themanufacture of a number of new oil products has been begun,

Iii

HANDBOOK OP THE SOVIET UNION

such as asphalt, naphtha soap, petroleum coke, lampblack, ozo-kerite and paraffin. In 1934 the capacity of the oil refineriesin the Union exceeded 26 million tons. Prior to the Five-YearPlan the U .S .S.R. had only two small pipe stills and no crack-ing plants . By the end of 1934 there were in operation 30

pipe stills, with a total crude capacity of nearly 13 million tons,and 36 cracking plants, with a combined capacity of 5.6 mil-lion tons. These added about 1,300,000 tons of cracked gaso-line yearly to the output of the Soviet Union . Of the crackingunits 4 have been installed at Baku, 6 at Batum, 2 at Tuapse,14 at Grozny, 8 at Saratov, I at Konstantinovka and i atKhabarovsk.

The output of the first paraffin plant at Grozny amountedto 33,000 tons in 1934 as compared with 15,000 tons in 1932 .Large scale production of petroleum bitumen or asphalt wasstarted only five years ago. It increased from 140,000 tonsin 1932 to 200,000 tons in 1934 . Another new item is ash-less coke, the demand for which arose as a result of the growthof the newly established aluminum industry of the U .S.S.R .So far special shell stills with a total annual capacity of 25,000tons of coke have been erected, and additional units of similarcapacity are now being completed.

There has been an increased demand for gasoline and thehigher grade oils not only on the domestic market, due togrowth in the number of tractors and automobiles, but also onthe foreign markets . To meet this demand an increasing pro-portion of gasoline is being produced. In 1913 output of gaso-line amounted to only 204,000 tons, or 3.6 per cent of therefined oil output ; by 1934 it totaled 2.8 million tons or about13 per cent of the total . Exports of gasoline in 1913 amountedto only 152,000 tons, or 16 per cent of the total exports ; by1928 they totaled 826,000 tons, or 27 per cent ; and in 1932they came to 2 million tons, or one-third of the total .

tNt USTRY

I 3

The growth in output and exports of the principal lightproducts is shown in the table below :

Oil exports in 1932 were over six times the 1913 and doublethe 1928 volume .

The following table gives the oil exports according to theprincipal countries to which they were consigned :

Since the bulk of the oil exported is shipped from the BlackSea ports of Batum and Tuapse, many new refineries havebeen erected at these ports. These are supplied with oil fromthe Baku and Grozny oil fields by two 1o-inch pipe lines : theGrozny-Tuapse line, 618 kilometers long (completed in 1929)

PROIIUCTION

KEROSENE

EXPORTSLUBRICATINGLUBRICATING

GASOLINE OILS GASOLINE KEROSENE OILS

in thousand metric ten,t

1913 204 1,521 337

152 440 2901928-29 1,204 2,319 372

1,038 781 265

1931 2,756 3,861 652

1,783 729 2611932 z,881 3,824 68o

2,005 793 2491933 2,702 3,872 1,135

1,296 570 292

1934 2,785 4,485 -

1,120 436 305

COUNTRY 1913 1929 1930

1931 1932 1933in thousand tons

-%France 112 .3 375 .7 556.9 942 .5 1,117 .5 719 .2Italy 16 .6 571 .6 826 .1 971 .2 936 .0 998 .7Great Britain 178 .2 803 .3 973 .1 1,031 .1 651 .6 312.4Germany 129 .2 482 .5 504.7 499 .3 629.0 505 .5Spain z .6 318 .9 361 .3 147.3 435.5 342.2Egypt 123 .3 238 .5 221 .3 136 .9 z6o .o 100.4India - 145.7 204 .8 154 .4 202 .2 176 .4Denmark 8 .z 64.1 95 .3 187.4 191 .8 122.5Sweden 5 .1 7 .z 38 .4 96 .1 173 .0 218 .6Belgium 83 .0 103 .6 93 .3 160 .3 153 .1 259 .7Japan - - - 112 .0 134.0 366.4Turkey 148 .9 182 .1 189 .6 150 .0 107 .9 56.1China 1 .8 - - 30 .1 86 .3 106 .7Persia 34 .8 46 .6 52 .9 59 .2 65 .5 32.9Others 103 .7 476 .6 685 .3 602.2 900 .6 576 .8

Total 947. 7 3,816 .4 4,803 .0 5,280.0 6,044 .0 4,894 .5

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and the Baku-Batum line, 822 km . in length (completed earlyin 1930) . These lines have an annual carrying capacity of 1 .7and 1 .6 million tons, respectively . In addition, an 8-inch pipeline constructed before the war from Baku to Batum, with acapacity of 1 million tons, is still in use .

A number of other pipe lines have been designed to servedomestic needs . Of these one has been completed, the Armavir-Trudovaya 12-inch line, which connects with the Grozny-Tuapse line and carries Grozny oil to the Ukraine. It is 418km. long, and has a capacity of 1 .7 million tons. It is nowplanned to extend this line to Kremenchug, in Central Ukraine,one of the principal consuming areas . The Caspian-Orskline, begun in 1932 and extending northeast from Guryev onthe Caspian Sea at the mouth of the Ural River to Orsk(Southern Urals), will be 758 km. long; including gatheringlines the length will come to 1,000 km. Construction work onthis line is very difficult, as the line is being laid in practicallyuninhabited deserts of Kazakstan . The first section of the line,with a capacity of 500,000 tons a year, was reported nearingcompletion during 1934 . The total capacity of the line willbe about 2,000,000 tons . This line will carry oil from the Embaoil fields, and in part from Baku via the Caspian Sea, to Orsk,for supplying the Ural-Kuznetz industries . Oil is now shippedto this section from Baku on tankers sailing via the Caspia .Sea and the Volga River up to Samara and from there east-ward on railway tank cars . The new line should greatly facili-tate and cheapen transportation of oil products to the Urals andSiberia . During the period of the second Five-Year Plan it isplanned to extend the pipe line further northeast to Kurgan,which will double the length of the line and make it the long-est and largest pipe line in Europe . It is estimated that the linewill by 1937 handle a total quantity of 5 million tons of oilannually . Another pipe line in project is one from the Maikop

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fields in the North Caucasus to Moscow, via Armavir andLisky, to supply oil to the central regions of European Russia .

Altogether during the four and one-quarter years of thefirst Five-Year Plan a total of over 2,000 km . of pipe linewas laid to carry approximately 5 million tons of oil annually .This, together with other construction work, such as pipe stills,cracking plants, storage tanks, etc ., as well as all the othermeasures taken to develop and modernize the oil industry, natu-rally necessitated the expenditure of huge sums . Capital invest-ments in the oil industry during the four-year period totaled1 .45 billion rubles, and the basic capital was approximately'doubled. Investments in 1932 alone amounted to 453 millionrubles. Of this sum 187.5 million rubles were spent for drill-ing. Investments in 1933 totaled 576 million rubles .

In the early years of the first Five-Year Plan oil equipmentvalued at $9,800,000 in 1928-29 and $18,150,000 in1929-30 was purchased from American manufacturers. Sincethen such purchases have been much smaller .

Scientific research has played an important role in the de-velopment of the Soviet oil industry . There are at present fourscientific institutes and scores of large plant and field labora-tories devoted to research in the oil industry . Of the fourinstitutes one, the Petroleum Geological Research Institute ofMoscow, carries on extensive work in oil geology and pros-pecting. The other three institutes-the State Petroleum In-stitute in Moscow (GINI) and the Grozny and AzerbaidzhanPetroleum Institutes--cover research work in oil field andplant construction and equipment, chemistry of oil, oil refining,oil transport and storage, etc .

In exploration not only have the latest geophysical methodsbeen extensively utilized, but electrical exploration has devel-oped rapidly, and gas exploration, a new method wherebythe air above the area being surveyed is sampled and analyzed,

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is said to have shown remarkable results. In the sphere of drill-ing the research institutes are perfecting the Skvortsov auto-matic rig and the Kapelyushnikov turbodrill . A multistage typeof the latter has been worked out, combining qualities of dur-ability and high speed and designed primarily for deep drilling .The State Petroleum Institute has develped the possibilityof secondary oil extraction by means of evaporation and gasifi-cation, and experiments on a commercial scale are now beingcarried out in the Maikop oil fields .

The rapid growth in air and automobile transport, the mech-anization of agriculture and the export trade place heavy de-mands upon the oil industry as regards both quantity and qualityof output .

The fulfillment of the second Five-Year Plan schedule ofoil production (44.3 million tons in 1937) will depend largelyupon the development of new oil regions and the speed withwhich the drilling work is carried out . The newer and moreefficient methods of drilling are to be applied to an ever greaterextent, and by 1937 it is expected that about 30 per cent ofall drilling work will be done by the turbine method . Drillingoperations in 1934 amounted to about 1,256,000 meters .A large part of the drilling during the second Five-YearPlan is to be done outside of the Caucasian oil districts . Be-tween 35 and 4o new fields are to be exploited during theperiod, and newly-opened wells are expected to yield by 1 93744 per cent of the total oil production . The older oil wellsare to provide a correspondingly smaller share of total output .Drilling operations are planned to total 3,972,000 meters in1937, a gain of 428 per cent over 1932 . The share of drillingfor prospecting purposes is to rise from 17.5 to 20.6 per cent .

Many new refineries are to be built, especially in the oil-consuming regions on the Volga . These are to include 46 pipestills for straight-run refining and 93 cracking units . While

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waterways are still to serve as the major means of transportingoil, an extensive program has been outlined for the buildingof new pipe lines . These are to total about 4,000 kilometersin length, a large share of which is to be laid outside of theCaucasus. Total capital investments are set at 4 .7 billion rubles,over three times those of the preceding period .

Deeper cuts are to be made in the crude oil to increase theyield of light products and lubricants. Of the 38 million tonsof oil to be refined in 1937, gasoline and ligroin are scheduledto amount to 8,200,000 tons, 21 .4 per cent of the total asagainst 14 per cent in 1932 . The gain in output for the periodis set at 185 per cent, and for kerosene 78 per cent . Thecapacity of pipe stills and refining batteries is expected toincrease from 23.4 million tons on Jan . 1, 1933, to 40 .4million at the end of 1937 ; that of cracking installations from3.0 to 15 .8 million tons .

OIL SHALE

The development of the extraction of oil shale on an indus-trial scale was inaugurated during the first Five-Year Plan .During this period three large mechanized mines were con-structed and began operations in 1933 : an experimental mineat Gdov (Leningrad Region) with a capacity of 200,000tons; one at Kashpir (Middle Volga Region), capacity onemillion tons ; and one at Savelyevo (Lower Volga Region) ca-pacity 500,000 tons. Two other large mines are now underconstruction at Gdov, with a combined capacity of 2 milliontons. An experimental shale distillery has been built in Lenin-grad. Shale is there being reduced first to tar and then to gaso-line and mineral oil in a tunnel furnace designed by Sovietengineers.

During the second five-year period shale is to be utilizedmore and more as a fuel, thereby freeing a number of regions

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from the necessity of transporting fuel from distant points .Output, which in 1932 amounted to 193,000 tons and in1934-230,000 tons, is scheduled to reach 2 .6 million tons by

1937. Eight large mines are projected with a total capacity of

5.3 millions tons.

PEAT

Although the U .S.S.R. possesses about 65 billion tons ofpeat or three-fourths of the world's peat reserves, little wasdone in prewar times to develop this abundant source of fuel .Up to the outset of the Five-Year Plan production was stillcarried on for the most part in primitive fashion, mechanizedoutput constituting only 15 per cent of the total in 1928 . Dur-ing the past few years, however, modern machinery and meth-ods have been introduced in the peat industry, with the resultthat in 1932 mechanized output made up 50 per cent of thetotal, as against 30 per cent set by the Five-Year Plan. In1933 the level of mechanization stood at 56 per cent and by1934 was estimated at 67 per cent .

In consequence of the rationalization and mechanization ofthe peat industry labor productivity increased by 62 per centduring the first Five-Year Plan and output rose 16o per cent .Production in 1932 totaled 14 .8 million tons, 19 per centin excess of the Five-Year Plan program . Output during recentyears as compared with 1913 is given in the following table :

OUTPUT

YEAR (thousand metric tons)1913 1,6881927 4,9111928 5,3201929 6,9141930 8,0761931 12,3571932 14,7891933 13,8351934 17,2001937 (program) 25,000

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Production of peat in 1934 by enterprises under the super-vision of the Commissariat for Heavy Industry amounted toI1 .7 million tons as compared with 9 million tons in 1 933 .Another 5 .5 million tons were produced by local industry asagainst 3.1 million tons in 1 933-

In 1932 one-fifth of the total output of power by re-gional power plants was produced by plants using peat as fuel .The process of burning mixed milled peat was developed dur-ing the first Five-Year Plan, thereby making it possible toincrease the share of milled peat in the total output of peat in1932 to 27 per cent, as against 4 per cent scheduled by thePlan .

Successful experiments were reported in the use of peat,combined with oxygen or agglomerated calcined pyrites, as afuel for blast furnaces. The working out of a process of smelt-ing by raw peat, in place of coking coal, is of special impor-tance for the central and northern sections of European Russia,where coking coal must be transported from other sections ofthe country .

Capital investments in the peat industry under the super-vision of the Commissariat for Heavy Industry during the Five-Year Plan totaled 398 million rubles, as compared with 300million rubles set by the Plan . Thirty-four new peat bogs werebrought under development during the period, and many oldbogs were expanded and prepared for the introduction of mod-ern methods of production . Although not scheduled in theFive-Year Plan program, a number of peat-refining plantswere constructed, including four for the manufacture of insu-lating peat slabs, with a combined capacity of 3 .3 million squaremeters, a peat coking plant, and an experimental plant for peatbriquets . Gas is also being produced from peat on an experi-mental scale .

1 3 0


Capital investments in the peat industry during 1 933-1 937are set at 6oo million rubles . By the end of the second Five-Year Plan output is expected to reach 25 million tons, 71 percent of which is to be produced by mechanical methods ascompared with 50 per cent in 1932 . The peat industry willsupply fuel to such important enterprises as the Shatura andGorky power plants, the Yaroslavl rubber combine and theUrals heavy machinery and car-building plants .

IRON AND STEEL

The production of iron and steel, which fell to practicallynothing during the years of civil war, had not regained the pre-war level by the beginning of the first Five-Year Plan period .In 1927-28, the year prior to the commencement of the Five-Year Plan, the output of pig iron amounted to only 78 per centof the 1913 figure, and that of steel ingots and rolled steel to98 and 93 per cent, respectively .' Metal supply being of deci-sive importance for industrial development, the iron and steelindustry received particular attention in the Five-Year Plan . Itwas planned to treble the output of pig iron by 1932-33, bring-ing it up to 1o million tons, and to raise the output of steel to acorresponding level . While the production figures scheduled bythe Five-Year Plan were not attained, due primarily to diffi-culties in keeping up production in plants undergoing drastic re-construction and in bringing into capacity operation within ashort space of time the newly constructed plants with their ad-vanced technique and complicated machinery, output of bothiron and steel has shown steady growth and the basis for amodern, technically up-to-date metallurgical industry created .

The following statistics show the growth of output in thisindustry :

s The higher percentage for steel than for pig iron output is explained by the fact thatlarge quantities of scrap iron were utilized .

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During the years 1928-1932 output of iron ore more thandoubled, that of pig iron increased by 82 per cent and thatof steel by 37 per cent . In 1933 there were further increases-of 25 .2, 17 .8 and 17 .5 per cent, respectively . Output ofrolled shapes has lagged somewhat behind . Nevertheless, itshowed an increase of 40 per cent from 1928 to 1933 . In1934 pig iron production was 47 per cent greater than in1933 and steel recorded an increase of 40 .1 per cent. Rolledsteel production increased by 36.7 per cent and iron orerecorded a rise of 49 .6 per cent. These exceptionally largeincreases were due mainly to the putting in operation of manynew installations. Output of rails totaled 786,000 tons in1934 as compared with 426,900 tons in 1932 .

During the first Five -YearPlan the character of the outputof the iron and steel industry underwent a radical change inthe direction of a far larger proportion of high-grade products=special steels, alloys, and complex structural shapes for theautomobile, tractor, and aviation industries . In 1927-28 theoutput of special steels amounted to only 70,000 tons, confinedto tool steels, such as carbon steel for saws, axes, etc . In 1932the output of special steels rose to 555,000 tons, includingstructural chrome, chrome-nickel, chrome-molybdenum andchrome-vanadium steel, sheet steel for transformers, stainlesssteel, heat-resisting steel, manganese and silicon steels, etc . Pro-

YEAR IRON ORE PIG IRON

STEEL INGOTS ROLLED STEEL

million metric ton,1913 9 .2 4 .2 4 .25 3 .5I9zz 0 .2 0 .z -1927 5 .0 3 .0 3 .8 z .8

1928 6 .o 3 .4 4.3 3 .51929 7 .8 4.3 4.9 3 .91930 10.4 5 .0 5 .8 5 .0

1931 10 .9 4 .9 5 .4 4.1

1932 I2 .2 6 .z 5 .9 4.2

1933 15 .1 7 .2 6 .9 4 .9

1934 (prelm .) 21 .7 10 .4 9 .6 6 .7

1937 (pfog . ) 34 .0 ,6 .o 17 .0 13 .0

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duction of ferroalloys was begun in 1931, and output at thenew Cheliabinsk ferroalloy plant in 1932 reached 14,000 tonsof ferrosilicon and about 2,000 tons of ferrochrome s Success-ful experimental smelting of ferrotungsten and ferrovanadiumis reported. The production of super-hard alloys has been de-veloped . Output of ferrolloys produced in electric furnacesrose from 15,500 tons in 1932 to 22,300 tons in 1933 and67,000 tons in 1934 . In 1932 about 115,000 tons, or 2 percent of the total output of steel, were smelted in electric fur-naces. In Germany this percentage does not exceed 1 .1, andin the United States 1 .5 . Production of electro-furnace andcrucible steels totaled 169,6oo tons in 1933, while output ofelectro-steel in 1934 rose to 287,000 tons .

Investments in the iron and steel industry during the firstFive-Year Plan period totaled 2 .7 billion rubles, and those inthe iron ore mining industry 284 million rubles, as against the2.5 billion and 240 million rubles scheduled in the Five-YearPlan program . As a result of the construction work carried outunder the first Five-Year Plan the basic capital of the iron andsteel industry has doubled. During the four and one-quarteryears covered by the Plan 4o blast furnaces (including 17 newfurnaces) were blown in, with a total volume of i 8,ooo cubicmeters and an annual capacity of 4 .3 million tons of pig iron ;66 open-hearth furnaces (including 45 new ones), with ahearth area of i,8oo square meters and an annual capacity of2 million tons of steel ; one Thomas (Bessemer process) workswith four converters, having a capacity of 360,000 tons ofsteel per year ; 27 rolling mills (including 15 new mills, two ofwhich are pipe-rolling mills), with an annual capacity of about1 .4 million tons of rolled steel .

a The new Zaporozhye ferroalloy plant will have an annual output of 80,000 tons offerromanganese and 20,000 tons of ferrosilicon, to be produced in electric furnaces usingcheap power from Dnieproges. The new Zestafony works under construction in Georgiawill have a capacity of 150,000 tons of ferromanganese .

INDUSTRY 133

By January 1, 1933, there were in operation 103 blast fur-naces, with a total volume of 36,913 cu . meters, and 296open-hearth furnaces, with a total hearth area of 6,701 sq.meters . This compared with 69 blast furnaces, with a volumeof 20,000 cu . meters, and 202 open-hearth furnaces, with ahearth area of 4,630 sq . meters, at the beginning of the Five-Year Plan period. Eleven out of the seventeen new blast fur-naces are high-power, fully mechanized units, on the technicallevel of the best American furnaces . Two of the new furnaceshave a volume of over 1,000 cu. meters each, one over goo cu.meters, five over 8oo, one over 700 . and five over boo cu .meters. Prior to the first Five-Year Plan period the U.S.S.R .had no fully mechanized blast furnaces, and none exceeding700 cu. meters in volume . Almost all the newly built open-hearth furnaces are mechanized, having charging machines andpowerful ladle cranes . Three of the new furnaces have a dailycapacity of 150 tons each (at the Kuznetz mill), one of 100tons, and about fifteen with capacities of from 6o to 75 tonseach . The first four open-hearth furnaces at Magnitogorsk,which started operations in 1933, have a daily output capacityof 150 tons each. The annual capacity of the blast furnacesrecorded an increase during the Five-Year Plan period amount-ing to over 4 million tons of pig iron, that of the steel-smeltingfurnaces an increase of 2 .5 million tons, and that of the rollingmills also about 2 .5 million tons . This meant a doubling ofcapacity as regards pig iron, and an increase in capacity ofapproximately 50 per cent as regards steel . A further increasein capacity of 1 .8 million tons for pig iron and 1 .5 milliontons for steel was attained during 1933, when 7 new blastfurnaces, 26 open-hearth furnaces, 13 electro-furnaces and adozen blooming and rolling mills were brought into operation .In 1934, seven blast furnaces and 18 open-hearth furnaceswere completed .

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The new furnaces and rolling mills were installed at old andnewly constructed plants. Outstanding among the new steelmills are those at Kuznetz and Magnitogorsk, constituting thebasic units in the great Ural-Kuznetz combine . Prior to thefirst Five-Year Plan the South was the only important metal-producing section, the ore deposits of the Urals and Siberiabeing left comparatively undeveloped. While the projected ca-pacity of the new works was originally set by the Plan at 66o;000 tons of pig iron for the Magnitogorsk mill and 330,000tons for the Kuznetz mill, these plants are actually being builtwith an ultimate capacity of 2 .7 and 1 .2 million tons, respec-tively. By the end of 1934, completed construction work atthe Kuznetz plant included four American-type blast furnacesof 828 cubic meters each, nine open-hearth furnaces, a power-ful blooming mill, with a roll diameter of 1,150 mm. (46 in .),and a large rail and structural steel mill, fully electrified andmechanized, with a capacity of 650,000 tons of finished prod-ucts per annum. By the same date at Magnitogorsk four blastfurnaces, with a volume of 1,18o cu. m. each, the first eightopen-hearth furnaces, each of 90,000 tons annual capacity,and four rolling mills out of a projected fifteen had startedoperations. One of the mills is the largest in Europe havinga capacity of 18o tons per hour. There are also a 1 oo,ooo-kw .power plant, four huge batteries of coke ovens, etc. Aroundboth plants have sprung up complete cities with over 200,000inhabitants each .

Not only has a new metallurgical base been created in theUral-Kuznetz area, but the old center in the South has beengreatly expanded by extensive construction and reconstruc-tion work. Among the many old plants which have undergoneradical reconstruction, involving the modernization of the en-tire plant and the addition of entirely new mechanized depart-ments, are the following :

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The first open-hearth furnace of the Tomsky plant and thefirst Soviet-made blooming mill installed at the same plantstarted operations in June, 1933 . The second Soviet-madeblooming mill was installed at the Dzerzhinsky plant in July,

1933 . These blooming mills each have an annual capacity ofone million tons of rolled steel . The third Soviet-made bloom-ing mill began operations at the Zlatoust plant in December,

1934. Its output is set at 250,000 tons of high grade steelsannually .

In addition to the above-listed reconstructed plants, the fol-lowing new mills are under construction in European Russia :Krivoy Rog, Zaporozhye (Dnieprostal), Mariupol (Azovstal),Lipetsk (Central Black Soil Region) and Tula (Moscow Re-gion) . The three first-named plants, all located in SouthernUkraine, will have, when completed, a combined annual capac-ity of 3.3 million tons of pig iron. The Zaporozhye plant isto be the largest in the world as regards high-grade steel output,its capacity being set at 1 .5 million tons . Of its ten electricalfurnaces seven were in operation by March, 1934, as well astwo blast furnaces and four rolling mills . In Februray, 1934,the second blast furnace of the new Azov mill at Mariupolwas blown in . The Azov mill, in addition to its blast-furnace,open-hearth furnace and rolling mill departments and its coke-chemical works, will have a large sintering and flotation plant .The latter is designed to utilize the Kerch vanadium-bearing

LOCATIONNAME City Region

Tomsky Makeyevka UkraineDzerzhinsky Kamenskoye <'Voroshilov AlchevskPetrovsky DniepropetrovskStalino StalinoRykov YenakievoIlyich MariupolAndreyev TaganrogVoykov Kerch Crimea

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ores, with an estimated annual output of 500 tons of purevanadium. This is approximately half of the total world pro-duction of this rare metal, important in the manufacture ofhigh-grade steel. The 115th blast furnace in the U .S .S.R. wasblown in at the Kuznetz plant in December, 1934 . At thattime there were in operation 334 open-hearth furnaces.

American technical assistance was drawn upon in the con-struction of the new mills, the most important contracts beingthat with Arthur G . McKee & Company of Cleveland for aidin the construction of the Magnitogorsk mill and that with theFreyn Engineering Company of Chicago for technical assist-ance in the construction of the Kuznetz mill and in the design-ing and reorganization of other plants in various parts of thecountry.

The raw material base of the iron and steel industry wasconsiderably increased during the period of the first Five-YearPlan, as a result of the discovery of new iron ore deposits andthe development of the iron ore industry. Known reserves ofrich iron ore mounted from 6 .2 billion tons on January 1,1929, to 9.5 billion tons on January 1, 1933, a growth of 50per cent. Old mines were reconstructed, new mines sunk and anumber of concentration works built . Ten mines in the KrivoyRog district have undergone thoroughgoing reconstruction, andhave been equipped with modern hoists, crushers, sorters, etc .Stoping of ore has been mechanized 10o per cent, loading 50per cent, haulage from place of stoping 30 per cent and haulageto the surface too per cent. The mechanization of the old Uralore mines, formerly employing antiquated methods, has like-wise recently been undertaken . The new mine at MagnetMountain, with reserves estimated at 450 million tons of richiron ore, has been equipped throughout with modern machin-ery. During its first year of operation it produced 1 .5 milliontons of ore, and in 1 933 3 . 1 million tons, or 50 per cent more

INDUSTRY 137

than the total output of all the old Ural mines taken together .This mine, which will have a capacity of 7 million tons ayear, supplies ore for the Magnitogorsk and Stalinsk steel mills .Among other new mines which started operations during thefirst Five-Year Plan are those at Telbes and Temir-Tau in theGorno-Shori iron ore district of West Siberia, which help tosupply the Stalinsk mill, and those at the Kerch deposits in theCrimea which supply the Voykov works at Kerch and the newAzov mill at Mariupol . In 1933 mining operations were begunin several new districts, notably in Khahlovo (Middle VolgaRegion) and the Kursk (Central Black Soil Region) .

During the course of the present five-year period the ironindustry will be extensively developed . It is planned not onlyto complete the steel mills now under construction but to builda number of new plants. The latter will include the Bakal(Urals), Khalilovo, second Kuznetz and Far Eastern plants .These developments, together with improved operation of thenew and reconstructed mills as the new technique is developed,are expected to result in raising output by the end of thesecond Five-Year Plan (1937) to 16, 17 and 13 million tonsfor pig iron, steel ingots and rolled steel, respectively. Pro-duction of iron pipe is scheduled to increase to 1,580,000 tonsin 1937 as against 440,000 in 1932 and 520,000 in 1 933 .

The production of all branches of the industry is plannedto show a twofold or greater growth . There will be especiallylarge developments in rolled steel, particularly rails .

The total investments in the steel industry (including ironore) will amount to 9.4 billion rubles as compared withthree billion rubles during the first Five-Year Plan . To attainthe scheduled output it is planned to put in operation duringthe period 45 blast furnaces, 164 open-hearth furnaces, 2converter departments, 107 rolling mills (including 13 bloom-ing mills), 13 pipe rolling mills, 14 pipe rolling and 4 pipe

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welding departments, and a large number of pipe castingaggregates, electric furnaces, etc . By 1 937 54 per cent of thetotal pig iron output, 55 per cent of steel and 48 per cent ofrolled steel is expected to come from new equipment installedduring the five years. About 200,000 tons of rolling-mill andpipe-rolling equipment will have to be supplied .

Besides completing the construction of the Ural-Kuznetzcombine, a second eastern metallurgical base is to be erected-in Eastern Siberia. During the period over 40 per cent of thenew furnaces are to be constructed in the eastern regions andby 1937, 40 per cent of the iron and steel is to come fromthat territory (as against 28 per cent of pig iron and 17 percent of rolled steel in 1932)-

Rapid advances are planned in the output of high-grade andelectric steels and ferro-alloys. Production of high-grade steelsis expected to increase from 555,000 tons in 1932 to 2,000;000 tons in 1937, and of electric steel from 115,000 to6oo,ooo tons .

The process of concentration of production in large plantswill continue . By 1937 about 70 per cent of the total pig ironoutput is scheduled to come from mills of more than 6oo,oootons annual capacity (as against 10 .3 per cent in 1932) andthere will be seven plants of over a million tons' capacity . Inthe United States 58 per cent of pig iron output came frommills of over 6oo,ooo tons capacity in 1929 and there were16 plants of over one million tons' capacity .

Production of iron ore is scheduled to rise from 12.1 milliontons in 1932 to 34 million in 1937 . By the end of the period29 .5 per cent of total output is expected to come from newdeposits. Mines constructed or rebuilt during the first andsecond Five-Year Plans are to account for 78 per centof total production by 1937 . Capital investments in iron oremining are expected to total one billion rubles in the five-year

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period . Extensive mechanization is to be introduced and, by1937, 85 per cent of the output is to be produced by mechani-cal means as compared with 35 per cent in 1932 . The shareof the Krivoy Rog (Ukraine) mines in total output is to bereduced from 65 to 47 per cent and that of the eastern, cen-tral and Crimean mines increased to 53 per cent . Many newagglomeration and treatment plans are to be erected .

MANGANESE

Prior to the war Russia was the largest producer of manga-nese in the world, its output amounting to more than half (54per cent in 1913) of the world total . The ratio fell to i percent in 1921, but in the following years increased steadily,reaching 38 per cent in 1926 . In that year production totaled1,334,000 tons, 7 per cent above the prewar figure ( 1 , 2451000 tons) . Since 1926 production has been irregular, dependingon world market conditions, inasmuch as a part of the outputgoes for export. Production figures are given in the tablebelow

MANGANESE ORE OUTPUT

The Chiatury deposits in Georgia, Transcaucasia, are themost important in the world . The ore from these deposits is ofhigh quality, containing from 5 2 to 5 5 per cent of metallicmanganese . At present the domestic demand is supplied almostentirely by the Nikopol deposits of the Ukraine . However, withthe development of the iron and steel industry in the Urals andSiberia, a more convenient source of supply for the new steel

(in thous . metric tons)

1913 1,245 .0 1929 1,237 .01922 103.0 1930 1,543.01924 459.0 1931 876.01826 1,334 .0 1932 833.01927 1,109 .0 1933 1,040 .01828 710.0 1934 (Prelim .) 1,821 .0

1937 (frog .) 2,700 .0

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mills of the Ural-Kuznetz area has become of vital importance .During the present five-year period, consequently, measuresare being taken to develop the more recently discovered manga-nese deposits of the Urals, Bashkiria, Kazakstan and West Si-beria. The Ukraine deposits are said to be ample to supplythe needs of the steel mills of Southern Russia .

Total exports of manganese and those to the UnitedStates in 1913 and in recent years have been as follows :

TOTAL EXPORTS

EXPORTS TO U.S.A.YEAR

(in metric

(in thous .

(in metric

(in thous.

7 Before the war considerable quantities of Russian manganese were re-exported to theUnited States from third countries, principally Germany. These exports are not Included inthe total given here.

Since 1886 Russia has been a leading supplier of manga-nese ore to the American market . In 1931-33 Soviet shipmentsmade up from 40 to 50 per cent of total United States manga-nese imports .

During the second Five-Year Plan manganese output isscheduled to increase to 2,700,000 tons, a gain of 224 percent. The Nikopol mines are to account for about 52 per centof this total .

NONFERROUS METALSPrecious metals

Russia has always been a large producer of precious metals .There are gold, silver and platinum deposits in many parts ofthe country, particularly in Siberia, the Urals and the Caucasus .

tons) rubles) tons) rubles)1913 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,193,794 14,575 135,319 7 1,6511926-27 784,686 24,090 214,527 7,1521927-28 498,882 13,752 189,088 6,036

1929 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,037,122 20,440 401,361 9,1761930 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754,201 12,896 185,925 3,4661931 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741,705 9,774 217,567 3,5851932 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415,609 3,371 30,466 362

1 933 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655,007 4,512 93,452 7241934 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736,877 4,841 131,739 1,045

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Before the war the platinum deposits of the Urals gave Russiaalmost a world monopoly of that metal . The disorganizationresulting from the world and civil wars brought about asharp decline in the output of these metals, but in recent yearsproduction has increased considerably . The U.S.S.R. maintainsfirst rank as a producer and exporter of platinum, and has risento second place in gold output . Official figures on platinum pro-duction are not available since 1926, when output amounted to92,700 troy ounces, or 55 per cent of world production (169,-000 oz .) . According to estimates cited in Mineral Resources o fthe United States, 1930 (Part I, page 109), production in1930 approximated 120,000 troy oz. The production and saleof silver, while still comparatively small in volume, are likewiseon the increase .

As a gold producer the Soviet Union had by 1927 regainedits prewar rank-fourth (after South Africa, the UnitedStates, and Canada) . Output, however, was still less thanhalf the 1913 figure, 1.96 million troy ounces, valued at $40,-ooo,ooo, and the share of the U .S .S.R. in total world goldproduction had fallen to 5 .5 per cent, as against 8.6 per cent in1913 . During the succeeding period, that of the first Five-YearPlan, significant advances in developing the gold industry weremade. By 1931 the 1927 production figure had been doubledand in 1932 a further increase of 17 per cent was recorded,bringing output to approximately the prewar level . Accordingto a statement made by Joseph V . Stalin in a recent interview,production in 1933 reached over 100 million gold rubles($51,46o,ooo at old par ; $87,130,000 at new par) . In theyear 1934 output was nearly 50 per cent above that of 1 933 .

Whereas the total capital invested in the gold industry beforethe war amounted to only about 100 million rubles, during thefour and one-quarter years of the first Five-Year Plan ap-proximately 500 million rubles were invested in this industry by

142


the Soviet Government. These investments were applied to ex-tensive geological and other research work, the opening up ofnew mines, the improvement of transportation facilities (road,water, rail and air), and the introduction of mechanized pro-duction in both placer and vein mining . In 1932 over 43 andin 1933 over 70 per cent of the total output was obtained bymechanical extraction, as against about 25 per cent prior tothe war. By 1933 there were 16 electric dredges at work inthe gold fields, as compared with one in 1928 ; altogether therewere 85 steam and electric dredges, three times the numberin 1928. In 1932 Soviet plants began the manufacture ofdredges and other gold-mining equipment, but the supply ofmachinery and equipment is still inadequate .

During the period of the second Five-Year Plan scores ofadditional dredges, excavators, crushers, drills and scrapers, aswell as a great deal of hydraulic machinery, will be required .Domestic production of gold-mining machinery is to be ex-panded, but it is expected that this will need to be supplementedby a considerable volume of imports. The aim is to raise theshare of mechanized production to 85 per cent by 1937 andto increase the output to a point where the Soviet Union willapproach the level of the Transvaal (South Africa), whichnow occupies first place in world gold production .

Copper, Lead and Zinc

As regards nonferrous metals, prewar production was verylimited. Pre-war Russia produced only two per cent of the leadand 55 per cent of the copper consumed, while many metals,such as nickel, tin and aluminum, were not produced at all-this despite the fact that Russia has considerable reserves of orescontaining these metals . As a result of the world and civilwars, some of the principal nonferrous metal plants were de-stroyed and several others were located in regions which

INDUSTRY 143

formed part of the territories taken over by Poland and Turkey .Production was brought practically to a standstill . During thefirst years of the reconstruction period, 1922-1925, only twosmall smelting plants were in operation, the Kalata copperplant in the Urals and the Alagir zinc and lead plant in theNorth Caucasus . Beginning with 1925 other old plants, suchas the Karabash and Kalata copper-smelting plants in the Urals,were reconstructed, and production was gradually increaseduntil in 1928 output of zinc and copper approximated and thatof lead doubled the prewar figure .

During the period of the first Five-Year Plan considerablesums were invested in the construction of new plants for thesmelting of copper, lead, and zinc and in the further recon-struction of old plants . In the copper industry alone capital in-vestments during the four and a quarter years totaled 240 mil-lion rubles; in the zinc and lead industries 158 million rubles .Among the principal new plants completed or still under con-struction are the following :

(formerly Britishconcession)

COPPER DATE OF COMPLETION

(actual or scheduled) LOCATION

ULTIMATE

ANNUALCAPACITY

(metric tons)

Lake Balkhash 1st section Eastern Kazakstan 100,000

1936-37Pyshma electrolytic partial 1934 Urals 100,000

copper plantKrasnoural 1st section, 1931 Urals 40,000

Central Ural 1938 Urals 50,000

LEAD AND ZINCRidder lead and 1st section, 1928 Altai Mountains, 50,000

zinc plantAlagir lead and

2d section, 19321932

KazakstanNorth Caucasus 15,000

zinc plant (exten-

Kazakstan 60,0oosively reconstructed)

Chimkent lead plant 1st section, 1934Tetukhe lead plant 1930 Far Eastern Region 15,000


During the first Five-Year Plan period a number of flotationplants and reverberatory furnaces were built at old plants, mak-ing it possible to utilize low-grade as well as rich ore and to ex-tract a larger percentage of the metal . Formerly the rich orewas picked out and smelted in muffle furnaces ; in 1932 half ofthe copper ore was smelted in reverberatory furnaces . The ex-tensive construction and reconstruction work carried out re-sulted in a marked increase in output . Production data forrecent years as compared with 1927-28 and 1913 are givenbelow

8 Refers to territory now within the U .S .S .R .8 Zinc concentrates .

By 1932 output of copper was 78 per cent above the prewarlevel, while that of zinc and lead was, respectively, five andfourteen times the 1913 figure . The gains during the Five-Year Plan period alone amounted to 65 per cent for copperand 558 and 762 per cent for zinc and lead. Despite thismarked progress, production fell far short of the Five-YearPlan schedules . This was due to a number of circumstances,

1913 8 1927-z8 1932 1933 1934

Copper 27,000 29,000(in metric ions)

46,600 45,300 53,600Zinc 2,947 2,246 ° 13,656 ° 16,620 ° 27,o55 °Lead 1,520 2,164 18,664 13,700 28,000

COPPER DATE OF COMPLETION

ULTIMATE

ANNUAL(actual or scheduled) LOCATION CAPACITY

(metric tons)Cheliabinsk electro- 1st section, 1933-34 Urals 40,000

lytic zinc plantKemerovo electro- 50,0001937 Kuznetz Basin

lytic zinc plantOrdzhonikidze electro- 1934 North Caucasus

lytic zinc plantKonstantinovka zinc partial 1931-32 Ukraine 12,000

distillation plant

Belovsk zinc dis- partial 1931-3z West Siberia 12,000tillation plant

INDUSTRY 145

chief of which were : First ; the fact that in pre-war timesmany of the enterprises in the industry were largely ownedand operated by foreigners whose withdrawal resulted in anextreme shortage of engineers and technicians skilled in thisparticular field . Second ; retardation of the construction pro-gram led to many of the new plants either not being completedduring the five-year period or being completed too late to pro-duce any substantial effect on output prior to the second Five-Year Plan period. Third ; the plants which were operatingwere not adequately and regularly supplied with ore due toslowness in developing the recently discovered deposits ofcopper, lead and zinc . Considerable progress, however, hasbeen made in overcoming these difficulties . In 1934, as shownabove, production of copper, lead and zinc recorded gains of18.1 102.7 and 54 .6 per cent, respectively, over the previousyear .

In addition to deposits previously exploited, located princi-pally in the Urals and the North Caucasus, many of the newdeposits which have been discovered (in Kazakstan, CentralAsia, Middle Volga Region) are now being brought under de-velopment . Of outstanding importance among recently discov-ered copper deposits are those at Kounrad, north of Lake Bal-khash, and at Blyava in the Middle Volga Region . The formerare estimated to contain 1 .6 million tons of metallic copper,and are expected to provide ore at the rate of 20 million tons ayear for the great Balkhash copper smelting plant, which willrank among the world's largest . Preliminary construction workat this plant began in 1932, and the first section is scheduledfor completion in 1936 or 1937 . A new railway connecting theplant with the Karaganda coal fields is under construction .

Southern Kazakstan and Central Asia are reported toabound in lead and zinc-lead deposits . In addition to the Bid-der mines already under exploitation, many new deposits are


being developed. In August 1933 the discovery was announcedof immense deposits of ore bearing copper, gold, silver andplatinum, near Blyava in the Middle Volga Region . The factthat the deposits are located near the center of the country andimmediately adjacent to railroads should greatly facilitate thisdevelopment. Steps have been taken to bring them under exploi-tation as soon as possible .

The great development of electrification, the growth ofconsumers' goods industries and the needs of national defensewill necessitate a rapid expansion of the non-ferrous metals in-dustries. Output of copper, lead and zinc is to increase to135,000, 117,000 and 90,000 tons, respectively. Productionof the latter two metals is to show a sixfold growth whilethat of copper is to be almost trebled .

The expansion of production is to come primarily from theenlargement of existing plants or the completion of thosestarted during the preceding period . The capacity of coppersmelters is planned to increase to 207,000 tons by the end of

1937, as against 109,000 on Jan . 1, 1933 . Capital investmentsin all branches of the non-ferrous metals industries will total3.8 billion rubles from 1932 to 1 937 .

Other Nonferrous Metals

In addition to copper, zinc, and lead a number of metalsformerly not produced at all, such as aluminum, mercury, tin,nickel, tungsten, magnesium and molybdenum are now beingproduced in small quantities . Production of the rare metals cad-mium, tantalum, gallium, titanium and vanadium was begun in1932. The first nickel plant at Ufaley in the Urals began op-erations in 1933 . It has an initial capacity of 3,000 tons, to beexpanded by 1937 to 5,000 tons. In 1934, output of the Sovietnickel industry totaled 836 tons. The Nikitovka (Ukraine)mercury mines produced 70,000 tons of mercury in 1932,

INDUSTRY 147

eliminating the necessity of imports for the first time in thecountry's history. In 1933 new mines were sunk and a con-centration mill was under construction . By 1937 mercuryoutput is expected to reach 400,000 tons a year, an amountconsidered ample to supply the needs of Soviet industries andleave a surplus for export . Production of tungsten concentratesis scheduled to increase sevenfold and that of molybdenumconcentrates 30 times. The principal deposits are in the Trans-baikal district, Transcaucasia and Central Asia .

The growing domestic demand for aluminum, especially foruse in the manufacture of automobiles and airplanes, led to thecreation of a Soviet aluminum industry . A small experimentalplant was built in Leningrad, which produced the first Sovietaluminum in May, 1930 . Construction was then begun of alarge factory, the Volkhov aluminum plant, near Leningrad .This plant, completed in May, 1932, is said to equal in capac-ity and compare favorably in equipment with the best Euro-pean aluminum plants . Its present annual capacity is 6,ooo tons,but plans call for the further expansion of the plant to doublethis capacity. A second and even larger plant was opened atZaporozhye (Ukraine), near the Dnieper power plant, in June,

1933- Its initial capacity is set at 20,000 tons, to be increasedto 40,000 by 1937 . Since aluminum production requires im-mense quantities of electric power, both these plants have beenbuilt near hydroelectric stations, which provide the cheapestenergy. Production of aluminum has increased rapidly ; out-put in 1934 totaled 14,400 tons, as compared with 4,400tons in 1 933, a gain of 225 per cent .

At the beginning of the first Five-Year Plan only onedeposit of bauxite, the basic raw material for the alumniumindustry, was known in the Soviet Union, that located in theTikhvin district, east of Leningrad . Since this bauxite is of lowquality, containing over 1o per cent silicate, it was necessary to

148


work out a special process for the extraction of aluminum oxidefrom it. More recently deposits of rich bauxites were discov-ered in the Urals-in the Nadezhdinsk, Alapaev and Chelia-binsk districts. The Nadezhdinsk deposits are reported to beof specially high grade and are estimated to contain 4 milliontons of ore. Total deposits in the Urals are estimated at 9 mil-lion tons; the Tikhvin deposits at 4.5 million tons. While theknown reserves of bauxite are sufficient to supply the Volkhovand Dnieper aluminum plants for a considerable period of time,they are not considered adequate for the future development ofthe industry . Measures are consequently being taken to developmethods of obtaining aluminum oxide from other available rawmaterials, such as alunite, kaolin, nephelite and certain types ofclay, of which the U .S .S.R. has reserves totaling hundreds ofmillions of tons and which contain a considerable percentage ofaluminum oxide. An experimental plant has been built at Gand-zha, in Azerbaidzhan, which will operate on alunite ore. Pre-liminary work has been begun on the construction of a thirdlarge plant near Kamensk, a town 120 miles southeast ofSverdlovsk in the Urals, while several other plants are sched-uled for completion by the end of the second Five-Year Planperiod. By 1937 the Soviet Union expects to rank amongthe leading countries of the world in respect to aluminumproduction, the program calling for an output of 8o,ooo tons .

In order to develop additional production of aluminumoxide, which is required not only for the aluminum industrybut also for the manufacture of abrasives, there is now beingerected an alumina plant at Kandalaksha, which will work upthe nepheline tailings obtained from the refining of the Khi-binsk apatite-nepheline ores . This is to have a capacity of20,000 tons. An 8,ooo-ton aluminum plant is to be built,using water power from the dams of the White Sea-BalticCanal .

INDUSTRY 149

The production of nonferrous metals during the first Five-Year Plan period fell below the requirements of the domesticmarket. The electrical industry alone, the output of which wasseveral times as great as before the war, required huge quanti-ties of these metals . The rapid growth in the machine-buildingand chemical industries likewise greatly increased the demandfor nonferrous metals. To make up the deficit in domestic out-put it was, therefore, necessary to import considerable quanti-ties of nonferrous metals annually, as is shown below :

A number of American firms and individual specialists haverendered technical aid to the nonferrous metals industry .

MACHINE BUILDING

It is in the manufacture of machinery that Soviet industryhas recorded the most outstanding progress . From one of themost backward countries in this field it has risen to a leadingposition . Total output of machinery (including electricalequipment) in 1934 amounted to 9.83 billion rubles,'° fivetimes the 1928 level. The ravages of the world and civil warshad brought production in the years 1920-1922 down to onlyabout one-sixth of the pre-war level, i.e., to less than 120million rubles.

20 This includes only output by the Commissariat for Heavy Industry . Adding machinery,equipment and vehicles produced by other, state organizations and by cooperatives, a total of13 .4 billion rubles is obtained for 1934 as compared with 10 .8 billion rubles in 1933, again of 24 per cent .

1929 1930

1931

1932 1933

Copper 19,981(in thousand rubles)

2,15012,956 10,573 4,400Lead 10,508 1o,o,8 5,824 3,903 1,377Zinc 9,603 8,269 3,790 1,417 67STin 10,649 7,888 5,123 4,819 5,410Aluminum 6,303 9,073 15,658 7,6og 6,842Nickel 1,604 4,388 6,220 6,558 4,887Miscellaneous 904 1,375 2,081 562 391

Total 59,552 53,967 49,269 29,268 21,732

150


The machine-building industry was recognized by govern-ment authorities as a key industry in the industrialization of thecountry and the socialization of agriculture . Consequently, inoutlining the program for this industry under the Five-YearPlan, a high production schedule was set, namely, the attain-ment by 1932-33 of an output valued at 4,688 million rubles,an increase over the 1928 level of more than 150 per cent .But the actual results surpassed these estimates, the Five-YearPlan scheduled for the final year being exceeded in 1932 by55 per cent and in 1933 by 77 per cent. The table below givesthe schedules, for the period 1 929-1 933

FIVE-YEAR PLAN

ACTUAL

PER CENTSCHEDULES

PRODUCTION

FULFILLMENT

(in mill . rubles, at

Production of the machine-building and metal working in-dustry constituted 27 per cent of the total output of large-scale industry in 1934, as compared with I I per cent in 1913and 15 per cent in 1929 .

Among the new branches of the industry, unknown to pre-war Russia, are : automobiles, tractors, combines, airplanes andaviation equipment, mining and metallurgical equipment (in-cluding blooming and rolling mills), chemical apparatus, re-frigerating equipment, complicated machine tools and printingand office machinery (rotary presses, typesetters, typewriters,etc .) . Both in these new branches and in the old branches themanufacture of new types of machinery and equipment form-erly supplied exclusively through imports is constantly beingintroduced. The share of such new types, introduced since

1926-27 prices)

1929 1 ,833 2,488 .6 135 .8

1930 2,289 3,933 .8 171 . 91931 2 i 796 5,889.5 zio.6

1932 3,548 7,252 .0 207 .0

1933 4,688 8,z81 .o 176 .6

INDUSTRY

151

the beginning of the first Five-Year Plan, in total machineryoutput rose from 20 per cent in 1930 to 73 per cent in 1 934 .

Nearly four billion rubles were invested in the industry dur-ing the first Five-Year Plan period. In pre-war Russia the pro-duction of machinery was carried on chiefly in small, poorlyequipped plants ; by the end of 1931 over 50 per cent of theworkers engaged in the industry were employed in large plantshaving over 5,000 workers. The new enterprises producedabout three-fourths of the total machinery output in 1932 . Be-low are listed some of the principal new plants manufacturingpower, industrial and transport equipment" :

NAME AND TYPE OF PLANT

LOCATION

PLANNED

The Ural and Kramatorsk machinery works, designed tomanufacture equipment for the power, mining and metallurgi-cal industries, each cover an area of hundreds of acres andcost over 200 million rubles each to construct . Both are onlyin partial operation at present . The Ural plant was openedofficially on July 15, 1933, when it was adjudged ready toproduce at least 6o per cent of its capacity output . Several de-

"New plants manufacturing automobiles, tractors and agricultural machinery are listedin subsequent sections.

ANNUAL OUTPUT

Ural heavy machinery works Sverdlovsk, loo,ooo tons(chiefly metallurgical equip- Ural Regionment)

Kramatorsk heavy machinery plant Ukraine 150,000 tons(chiefly metallurgical equipment)

Lugansk locomotive works Ukraine I,o8o locomotivesKharkov turbo-generator plant Ukraine 1 .5 mill. kw.Moscow ball-bearing plant Moscow 24-40 mill. bearingsMoscow machine-tool plant Moscow 6,6oo turret lathesGorky machine-tool plant Gorky Region 6,700 milling machines"Freser" milling machine plant Moscow 65 mill. rubles"Kalibr" precision instrument plant Moscow 62 mill . rublesCheliabinsk abrasive plant Ural Region 40 mill . rubles

152


partments of the Kramatorsk plant have been in operation since1932 ; the entire first section, consisting of 13 large shopscovering an area of almost 300 acres, was completed in August1934 . When operating at full capacity the Ural plant will turnout annually 4 blast furnaces of 1,000-1,250 tons capacity,20 open hearth furnaces of 150 tons capacity each, 12 rollingmills (including 2 blooming mills), 50 gas generators and otherequipment . The Kramatorsk plant will be able to turn out about50 per cent more and is scheduled to produce half of the equip-ment required by the Soviet metallurgical industry. During theperiod of the second Five-Year Plan 300 million rubles morewill be expended on the two plants to bring them up to about75 per cent of capacity.

Each of the next three plants on the list-the Lugansk loco-motive works, the Kharkov turbo-generator plant, and theMoscow ball-bearing plant-is among the largest of its kindin the world . The first section of the Lugansk works openedNovember 29, 1933 . At full capacity it will produce ,,o80"FD"-type heavy freight locomotives, more than the com-bined capacity of all the other locomotive works in the U .S.S.R .Its boiler shop occupies an area of 25,680 sq. meters. TheKharkov turbo-generator plant started operations in January,1934, and was scheduled to produce 20 million rubles' worth ofequipment during 1934 . It will manufacture turbo-generatorsof from 50,000 to 200,000 kw. each . The total cost of thisplant was nearly 8o million rubles, while that of the Luganskworks was approximately 120 million rubles.

The first section of the Moscow ball-bearing works wascompleted in March, 1932, and the second section in Novem-ber, 1933 . The cost of constructing and equipping the plantcame to 122 million rubles . It is equipped with a total of 5,000machine tools, and its output at full capacity will be 24 million

INDUSTRY 153

bearings a year with a possible expansion to 40 million . ByOctober 1933 the output of the first section already exceeded6oo,ooo bearings a month, of about 5o different types . Withthe completion of the second section the capacity of the workswas increased threefold, and it was planned to manufacture125 different types of bearings during 1 934 .

The above list embraces plants which are either in full orpartial operation and does not include those under constructionbut not yet operating. Some of the largest of the latter are : theSiberian (Novosibirsk) machine-building plant (annual capacity-140 mill. rubles, chiefly mining equipment) ; the Ural ex-cavator works, the Nizhni Tagil car-building plant (annual ca-pacity-S4,000 freight cars), the Kashira electric locomotiveplant, the Orsk and Novocherkassk steam locomotive works,the Kazan passenger car factory, and the Kharkov machine-tool (drilling machines) plant . Among old plants which haveundergone radical reconstruction are the "Red Putilov" (Len-ingrad) and "Red Proletarian" (Moscow machine-tool-turn-ing lathes) plant . The extent of the reconstruction work maybe gauged by the fact that the basic capital of twenty-three ofthe large reconstructed plants was doubled during the fouryears 1928-1932 and their output more than quadrupled .

In the four years 1931-1934 investments in the machine-building industry totaled 7 .6 billion rubles. As a result, thebasic capital increased from 2 .35 billion rubles on January 1,1931 to 6 .17 billion on January 1, 1935 . (This sum doesnot include plants still in the process of construction and not asyet productive) .

Whereas in 1930 old machine-building plants still accountedfor 8o per cent of the total output, reconstructed plants for sixper cent and new factories for only 14 per cent, in 1933 newlycompleted plants produced 40 per cent of the greatly increased

154 J-IANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

output, reconstructed works-37 per cent and old plants-only23 per cent .

The output of some of the most important products of theindustrial and transport machinery industry 12 is given below :

12 Exclusive of power plant machinery for which see section on Elcctrot,chn{crl Industry.

ITEM

UNIT 1977-28 1929-30 1932 1933Industrial Machinery :

Machine tools

Number 1,783 7,062 17,666 18,o27Lathes 830 3,295 7,054 7,426Drill presses 546 2,167 6,541 4,6o8

Coal-cutting machines

" - 124 2.98 377Machinery for textile

industry

Mill. rubles z6 ., - 6o .1 46 .0Machinery for food

industry

" 16.7 - 6o.8 -Transportation Equipment :

Steam locomotives(freight)

Number 320 564 679 748Steam locomotives

(passenger)

" 159 61 148 187Freight cars (z axle

units) so,61z 19,421 20,866 zz,8oo

Passenger cars

" 377 838 1,142 1,274Street cars

" 468 - 974 939Road Building and Construc-

tion Equipment :Rollers

" - 5o5 315 463Graders

" 97 769 1,161 1,693Concrete mixers 25 720 1,089 492Rock crushers 63 786 1,631 1,125Excavators

" - - 84 116Miscellaneous Equipment :

Telephone apparatus

11 58,499 116,961 234,462 232,911Radio apparatus

will . rubles 14.4 31 .1 72.5 -Pumps (power

driven)

Number 6,604 19,824 41,355 44,130Compressors

" - 101 540 799Motion picture projectors :

Stationary

" 949 2,194 1,354 1,250Portable 2,zo6 9,000 8,054 5,100

Sound apparatus

" - - 633 1,251Surveyors' transits

" 1,955 3665 5,456 5,178

INDUSTRY 155

Considerable increases in production of transport equipmentwere recorded during 1934 . Production of main-line freightand passenger locomotives totaled 1,211 in 1934, an increase of30 per cent. Freight car output (in two-axle units) amountedto 35,300 in 1934, a gain of 54 per cent . Production of rail-way passenger cars in 1 934 totaled 1,490 cars, a rise of 17per cent . Despite the increase in construction of rolling stockduring the past several years, the transportation system is stillunable to meet the rapidly growing requirements . To over-come this deficiency a government decision was announced inJanuary, 1935, raising the schedule for freight car outputfor 1935 from 51,200 to 85,000, an increase of 141 percent over the 1934 production .

Output of some of the other types of machinery and equip-ment in 1934 was as follows : machine tools-18,500, coal-cutters-466, excavators-325, stationary motion picture pro-jectors-1,500, portable projectors-7,300, welding machines-6,764, radio receivers-70,000, radio tubes-2,700,000,industrial sewing machines-16,6oo, household sewingmachines-261,ooo, typewriters-6,ioo, office machines-52,500-

Progress has also been made in numerous other branchesof the industry, such as the manufacture of machinery for theoil industry (cracking and pipe-still equipment, etc .), coal in-dustry, mercantile ship-building, etc . During the first Five-Year Plan 86 new ships were constructed for the merchantmarine, with a total tonnage of over 200,000 tons, as comparedwith 9 ships (19,000 tons total tonnage) during the twelveyears, 1905-1917 . Electric welding is now being extensivelyemployed in ship-building and other branches of the machine-building industry . Output of the marine shipbuilding industryamounted to 445 million rubles in 1934 as compared with 311

156


million in the previous year, an increase of 43 per cent . Theproduction of self-propelled river vessels totaled 33,700 in-dicated horse-power in 1934, an increase of 55 per cent over

1 933 .

The Soviet Union has in the past several years built up amachine-building industry capable, it is claimed, of manufac-turing practically every type of machinery and equipment . Theshare of machinery of domestic origin in all machinery in-stalled increased from 35 per cent in 1913 to go per cent in1932. Nevetheless, due to the tremendous demand for ma-chinery occasioned by the extensive program of industrializa-tion, the importation of machinery increased rapidly . TheU.S.S.R. became one of the important machinery markets ofthe world, taking about one-fourth of total world exports in1931 . Machinery imports totaled close to $1'75,ooo,ooo in1932, a slight decrease as compared with 1931, but an in-crease of 13 per cent as compared with 1930 . In 1933-1 934they were reduced to less than half the 1932 total . The con-tinued expansion of all branches of industry during the comingyears may call for the importation of considerable quantities ofindustrial and transportation machinery and equipment to sup-plement domestic output .

Machine-Building-11 gricultural

The Soviet Union now is a leader in the output of agri-cultural machinery. In 1932 there were 14,500 machine-toolsin operation in the agricultural machinery industry of theU.S.S.R. Over two-thirds of these were installed during theperiod of the first Five-Year Plan . Output of agricultural ma-chinery (including tractors) in 1932 reached 890 .4 millionrubles, over five times the 1928 production figure . Produc-tion, year by year, has been as follows :

u Fiscal year ending September 30 .

Of the total output-excluding tractors-in 1932, Glavsel-mash (Agricultural Machinery Trust) accounted for 348 mil-lion rubles. In 1933 production of Glavselmash rose to 37 0million rubles, a gain of 6.3 per cent, and in 1934 amountedto 345 million .

In prewar times manufacture was limited solely to horse-drawn equipment and almost exclusively to the very simplesttypes of tools and implements, catering to the needs of small-scale agriculture . With the introduction and rapid developmentof large-scale agriculture-state and collective farms-therearose an ever-increasing demand for tractors and tractor-drawnmachinery . The share of tractor-drawn machinery and tools inthe total output of agricultural machinery (not including trac-tors) rose from 2 .6 per cent in 1927-28 to 6o per cent in1931 and 84 per cent in 1932 . During 1931 and 1932 aloneSoviet agricultural machinery plants began production of 130new types of agricultural machinery, not only for grain cropsbut also for industrial crops, vegetables, etc . Some of theseare types not manufactured elsewhere in the world . Amongthe latter are 45-foot combines, motorless combines, 3S-foothay-mowers, broad-swathe flax-pluckers, beet harvesters, rub-ber-bearing plant seeders, etc . Other types known abroad butnew to Soviet manufacture include tractor plows and binders,potato-planting machines, cotton and corn sowing machines,beet and potato diggers, corn and cotton pickers, etc .

INDUSTRY 157

INCLUDING

EXCLUDING

TRACTORS

TRACTORS TRACTOR-DRAWN(per cent of total)(in mill. rubles, 1926-27 prices)

1913 55.0

55.0 -1928 176 .9

140.3 Ia z .61929 270 .1

2oo.6 1S 5 .71930 452 .8

347.9 13 15 .01931 730.9

427.3 54 .01932 890.4

412.0 84 .0

158


Production of many of these new types of agricultural ma-chinery was not envisaged at the time the Five-Year Plan wasdrawn up. For almost all those types for which productionschedules were set actual results exceeded the program . Thus,the schedule for output of tractor plows during the five years ofthe Plan was set at 134,700 ; actually production in four yearsreached 173,554 . Similarly, for tractor seeders : plan for fiveyears-61,goo ; output in four years-103,950 ; for tractorthreshers : schedule for five years-28,900 ; output in four years

-5 6,545-The following table shows the output of the principal types

of agricultural machinery in recent years :

1! Grain-combines only ; in 1932 there were produced also 259 hay-combines, 265 cotton-combines and 258 beet-combines .

ITEM

UNIT 1927-z8 1929-30 1932 1933Combines 14

Number 104 io,oo6 8,578Windrowers

" - - 2,374 1,847Threshers (grain)

" 4,463 12,391 16,o13 12,891Flax scutchers

" - - 7,810 497Cotton picking machines

(pneum.)

" - - 2,196 1,117Reapers

" 116,935 179,497 2 5,360 43,107Binders

" 500 3,551 12,342 9,143Hay mowers (horse-

drawn)

" 57,140 134,66o 39,365 60,346

Hay mowers (tractor-drawn)

" - - 15,582 2,525Plows, tractor-drawn

(calculated in singleunits)

" 1,0zo 39,709 231,161 262,548Plows, horse-drawn

(calculated in singleunits)

" 1,293,241 2,288,341 47,716 80,305Cultivators (tractor-drawn)

" - - 15,109 16,224Cultivators (horse-

drawn)

` 5o,249 74,673 5,078 7,978Ensilage-cutters

" 16 z,z6z 9,621 2,358Seeders, grain

(tractor-drawn)

" 562 17,783 20,893 11,868

INDUSTRY 159

The year 1934 recorded further increases in the productionof agricultural machinery . Production of tractor-drawn plowsrose to 270,000 (calculated in single plowshares) and flaxscutchers to 1,637 . A total of 8,300 grain combines was pro-duced . During the four-year period, 1931-1934, heavy in-dustry furnished agriculture with 248,599 tractor-drawnplows, 893,055 plowshares, 455,616 horse plows, 95,533tractor-drawn and 109,176 horse-drawn seeders, 3,531 cottoncultivators, 209,716 horse-drawn mowers, 30,424 combines,99,825 simple reapers, 94,886 automatic reapers, 2,134 wide-flax scutchers, 7,257 maize pickers, 2,331 beet diggers, 61,-758 tractor-drawn and 6,521 horse-drawn threshers, etc .The bulk of the combines so far produced have been manu-

factured by the combine department of the "Kommunar"plant, which has a capacity of io,ooo combines a year. TheSaratov works and the new combine department at the Rostovplant, when working at capacity, are designed to produce 15,-000 combines each annually . This makes an ultimate capacity of40,000 for the three plants now in operation. The Novosi-birsk plant, now under construction, is scheduled to produceanother 25,000 combines annually . During the first three yearsof its existence (1932-1934), the Saratov plant turned out6,700 combines.

An important factor in the large increase in volume of out-put and in the variety and complexity of machines manufac-tured was the reorganization of the agricultural machine-building industry, involving the concentration and specializationof production. Whereas in prewar times there were over 700small plants manufacturing agricultural machinery, productionhas now been concentrated in about 50 large mechanized enter-prises, the majority of which specialize in certain particulartypes of equipment. The best of the old plants "Red Putilov"in Leningrad, "Hammer and Sickle" in Kharkov, "Red Star"

i6o


in Kirovo, "Kommunar" in Zaporozhye, etc .-underwent re-construction, which involved re-equipment with the mostup-to-date machine tools, the construction of entirely new de-partments, such as the combine department of the "Kommu-nar" plant, reorganization of the process of production, andchanges in types of machinery manufactured. In addition, anumber of new plants were constructed, the principal onesbeing :

DATE OFNAME AND TYPE OF PLANT

LOCATION

COMPLETION

The rapid progress in domestic production has resulted in asharp decline in imports. In the early years of the first Five-Year Plan the domestic supply of agricultural machinery wassupplemented by extensive imports from abroad, chiefly fromthe United States. In the past three years, however,such imports have practically ceased, as is shown in the tablebelow

IMPORTS FROM THE U.S.TOTAL IMPORTS Other agricul-

Tractors Other agricultural Tractors tural Machin-and parts machinery and parts and parts

ery and parts

and accessories.IS Practically all (2,240,000 rubles) for parts

(in thous . rubles)5 929 34,847 28,302 32,462 7,4451930 71,S65 38,327 64,018 22,3441931 79,627 26,287 78,767 19,3851932 374 839 170 431933 2,387 16 125 306 8

(actual or scheduled)Rostov agricultural machinery

plant

Saratov combine plant

Rostov-on-Don,North CaucasusLower Volga Region

1931 (partial)1931 (partial)

Gomel agricultural machineryplant White Russia 1931

Siberian agricultural machineryand combine plant Novosibirsk,

Siberia 1 93 2- 33Tashkent cotton machinery

plant Uzbekistan 1931 (partial)

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Tractors and llutomobiles

Prewar Russia produced no tractors and only a few auto-mobiles assembled from foreign parts. Now the Soviet Unionleads in the manufacture of tractors, and is rapidly building upan automobile industry . In 1934 output of tractors totaled94,418 and of automobiles 72,466, as against 1,449 and 839,respectively, in 1928 . In 1934 tractor production increased by20.9 per cent and automobile output by 45.9 per cent as com-pared with the preceding year . The output year by year hasbeen as follows :

Of the total automobile production in 1 934, 55,3 66 ma-chines were 1V2, three and five-ton trucks, including also 755buses and 761 fire trucks . The remainder consisted of lightpassenger cars. In the previous year, output of trucks totaled39,467 machines, of which 344 were buses and 664, firetrucks .

By January 1, 1935, the new tractor industry had providedagriculture with 283,000 tractors . The greater part of thesetractors were manufactured by the two new tractor plants atStalingrad (Lower Volga Region) and Kharkov (Ukraine),which began operations in June, 193o, and October, 1931, re-spectively . Prior to their completion tractors were manufac-tured at the "Red Putilov" works in Leningrad . The latter isnow starting to produce truck garden tractors, and also turnsout tractor parts and tractor-drawn agricultural machinery .

TRACTORS AUTOMOBILES

INCLUDING THOSEASSEMBLED FROMFOREIGN PARTS

1928 1,449 8391929 4,498 1,748 -1930 12,597 3,340 8,5251931 38,083 3,182 20,5771932 50,600 23,886 25,412

1933 78,104 49,675 -

1934 94,418 72,466

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The Stalingrad and Kharkov plants have been running at fullcapacity for some time (144 tractors each per day), their com-bined output now being 1 .5 million hp. In June, 1933, the firstsection of the Cheliabinsk tractor works (Ural Region) startedoperations. When completed, it will have an annual capacityof 40,000 6o-hp. caterpillar-type tractors, or a total horse-power capacity of 2.4 million . Its output in 1934 totaledapproximately 10,100 tractors.

The Soviet automobile industry has the two largest auto-mobile works in Europe, the Molotov plant in Gorky (formerlyNizhni Novgorod) and the Stalin (new AMO) plant in Mos-cow. These two plants accounted for 22,850 automobiles in1932, the first full year of their operation, more than doubledthis production in the following year, and are rapidly approach-ing their scheduled capacity-140,000 i2-ton trucks andpassenger cars a year for the Gorky plant and 50,000 2a-ton trucks for the AMO plant. The Gorky works is one of themost important of the many large industrial plants constructedduring the first Five-Year Plan period . It is modeled afterthe Ford plant at River Rouge, Mich . The AMO factoryin Moscow underwent thorough reconstruction in 193o and1931 and is practically a new plant . In addition to thesetwo large plants there is the reconstructed Yaroslavl plant,with an annual capacity of 4,000 trucks (chiefly 5-ton),and a number of assembly plants and special factories for themanufacture of automobile parts, such as the Samara carbu-retor plant (annual capacity : 535,000 carburetors) and the Ufamotor plant (annual capacity of first section : 100,000 motors) .The AMO plant now manufactures buses as well as trucks .Motorcycles are produced at the "Red October" plant (Mos-cow) and at Kharkov, while the new Moscow bicycle plant at-tained an output of 6,ooo velocipedes monthly by February,

1934. The output of bicycles amounted to 132,429 in 1 933

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and 280,000 in 1934- In the four-year period 1 93 1-1 934,594,600 bicycles were produced .

At the beginning of the first Five-Year Plan period therewere only 18,700 automobiles in the U.S.S.R., and these werepractically all of foreign manufacture . By the end of the period(January 1, 1933) the number had grown to 73,000, about70 per cent of which were of domestic manufacture . At theend of 1934 the number of cars totaled 179,500 (including131,000 trucks) . The majority of the cars imported or manu-factured have been trucks. However, the manufacture ofpassenger cars is now being developed at the Gorky plant . In1934, the plant increased its output of passenger cars to 17,-100, a gain of 67 per cent over the previous year.

Present domestic production is still unable to meet the grow-ing requirements of industry and agriculture, let alone the de-mand for cars for personal use .The Soviet Union, therefore,constitutes a big market for automobiles, parts and accessories .Imports of automobiles, motorcycles and parts during recentyears, with the share supplied by the United States, is given inthe table below :

1 9 Z 9193019311932

1933

15,202

26,44837,3888,2683,018

PER CENT

TOTAL

FROM U.S .A. FROM U.S .A.

(in rubles)

5,629

19,40624,7725,9031,901

37 .073 .466 .3

71 .463 .0

American equipment and engineering technique have playedan important role in the . development of the Soviet automotiveindustry. Among the technical assistance contracts made withAmerican companies in the tractor and automobile industriesthe chief have been :

164


Austin Co .

Brown-Lipe Gear Co .

The Electric Auto-lite Co.

Ford Motor Co .

Hercules Motor Co .

Albert Kahn, Inc.

Seiberling Rubber Co .

Timken-Detroit Axle Co .

Technical assistance contract to design the proj-ect and supervise the construction of the Gorky(Nizhni Novgorod) automobile plant and theadjoining workers' city.Technical assistance to the United Automobileand Tractor Industry.Technical assistance to United Electric Industryin production of electric equipment for auto-mobiles and tractors .Technical assistance in the erection of the Gorkyautomobile plant and in the production of carsand trucks in this plant .Assistance in production of engines for automo-bile trucks .Technical assistance contracts for the designingof buildings for tractor and motor assemblyplants .Designing and assistance in construction of arubber tire plant at Yaroslavl, for Rezinotrest(Rubber Trust) .Technical assistance to the United Automobileand Tractor industry in the production of axles .

Second Five-Year Plan o f Machine Building

Great expansion is proposed for all branches of the machinebuilding industry during the period of the second Five-Year

Plan (1932-1937). The total output is expected to increasefrom 9 .3 to 19.5 billion rubles during the five years, a gain of107 per cent. Output of machine tools will increase from I5,-

00o machines in 1932 to 40,000 in 1937, and mass productionof dozens of complicated machines never before manufacturedin the Soviet Union are to be started . Production of heavyequipment for the chemical, metallurgical, oil refining andproducing and other industries are scheduled to show a similargrowth .

Output of textile machinery is to increase sixfold (from 6oto 350 million rubles) . The output of twisters for variousfibers, which were not produced at all in 1932, is scheduledto increase from 333 in 1933 to 6,5oo and of looms from 444in 1932 to 32,000 during the period .

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Agricultural machinery output is to be increased more than2/ times. The output of combines is scheduled to rise from10,000 in 1932 to 20,000 in 1937 and of tractor-drawn plows(calculated in single units) from 18o,ooo to 470,000 . Trac-tor production is scheduled to increase to 88,500 machines witha total horse-power of 2,500,000 . This is more than threetimes the capacity of the tractors produced in 1932 . Theaverage size of each tractor will be increased to 41 hp. andtrack-laying tractors (caterpillar type) will make up the greaterpart of the output. The Stalingrad plant will switch over tothe production of track-laying machines, its final capacity to be40,000 a year. The "Red Putilov" works will start the manu-facture of special tractors for truck garden cultivation, with anoutput in 1937 of 10,000 units .

Railway equipment is scheduled to rise by 368 per cent(from 320 million rubles in 1932 to 1,500 million in 1 937)-The output of steam locomotives is to increase from 828 to2,800 ; by 1937 the new types of heavy-duty freight and pas-senger engines, production of which was started in 1933, are toconstitute over one-half of the total locomotive output . Con-struction of Diesel and electric locomotives is also scheduledto show rapid development . Freight car building is planned toincrease (in two-axle units) from 22,200 in 1932 to 118,400in 1937 and the average size of car will be increased from 29to 47 tons. The production of railway passenger cars is to risefrom 1,135 to 3,500 .

Automobile output is scheduled to increase eightfold duringthe period, to 200,000 cars in 1 937, 70 per cent of which willbe trucks. Aside from the expansion of the existing plants(from a capacity of 92,000 cars in 1932 to 360,000 in1937*), construction of several new plants is to be started .-The discrepancy between the scheduled capacity at the end of 1937 and the production

during the year is due to the fact that operation of the plants at full capacity will beattained only at a later date .

166


These include two factories to produce three-ton machines,with a capacity of ioo,ooo cars a year each, and two plants toproduce 25,000 five-ton cars each. Altogether only five typesof automobiles will be manufactured during the second Five-Year Plan . Later the capacity of the Gorky plant is to be in-creased to 300,000 cars a year and that of the AMO factoryto 80,000.

Total capital investments in all branches of machine-building(including electrical equipment) will total 8.o6 billion rubles,double those of the first Five-Year Plan . Of the total invest-ments, 70 per cent will go for new construction, 17 per centfor expansion and reconstruction and 13 per cent for otherpurposes (capital repairs, etc .) . During the preceding period46 per cent of the outlays were for enlargement and rebuild-ing of old plants but this program has now been largelycompleted.

CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

In prewar Russia the chemical industry lagged even behindthe generally backward industrial development . The countrywas almost completely dependent upon imports in this field,only a small number of chemical products being manufactured .Moreover, production was based largely upon imported rawmaterials. War and revolution resulted in practically a cessa-tion of domestic production, which fell from 500 million rublesin 1913 to 25 million rubles in 1921 . The new chemicalindustry has been built up in accordance with a unified plan andbased upon the development and utilization of domestic rawmaterials and the employment of modern methods and equip-ment. By 1926-27 the prewar level of output had been re-gained and a foundation laid for the further development ofthe industry.

During the period of the first Five-Year Plan the Sovietchemical industry developed at a rapid pace. Output in 1932

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amounted to 1 .9 billion rubles, more than twice the 1928output. For certain chemical products the increase was muchgreater, and many branches of the industry-synthetic nitro-gen, coke by-products, aniline dyes, synthetic rubber, rayon,rosin and turpentine, synthetic resins, potassium salt, apatite,and many chemical-pharmaceutical products-were newlybuilt up, having been entirely or almost entirely unknown inprewar Russia. Capital investments during the four years(1928-1932) totaled 1 .46 billion rubles, considerably exceed-ing the schedule for five years (1 .15 billion rubles) . Thelargest share of the investments (about 70 per cent) wereabsorbed by new construction ; the balance went for enlarge-ment and reconstruction of old plants, housing, and research .Of the total basic capital of the industry at the end of 1932,over 8o per cent had been built or installed during the preced-ing four years .

Further increases were registered by the chemical industryduring 1933 and 1934 . Capital investments increased con-siderably-in the four-year period 1931-1934 they totaled2 .7 billion rubles. The value of production machinery in thechemical industry rose from 585 million rubles to 2 .3 billionrubles during the four years. The gross output of the chemicalindustry under the supervision of the Commissariat for HeavyIndustry in 1934 totaled 2.37 billion rubles, according topreliminary estimates, as compared with 1 .62 billion rubles in1933, a gain of 46 per cent .

First attention has been given to the manufacture of pro-ducers' goods-basic chemicals, coke by-products, paints andvarnishes, aniline dyes, wood distillation by-products, etc . Theynow constitute almost two-thirds of the total output . Of thebasic chemicals the largest share is taken by fertilizers, importantin the agricultural development of the country . The creation oflarge-scale collectivized agriculture and the expansion of the

168


sown area has given rise to an immense growth in demand formineral fertilizers . In 1934 the Soviet chemical industry sup-plied agriculture with over 2 million tons of fertilizers, as com-pared with 260,000 tons in 1928-29 . In prewar Russia theoutput of fertilizers did not exceed 62,000 tons a year, and thiswas confined solely to superphosphates. By the year 1934 theproduction of superphosphates had increased to 849,000 tons,more than 12 times the prewar figure . In addition,there has been organized the production of potash and nitrog-enous fertilizers, not produced at all in prewar Russia . Outputof other basic chemicals has likewise recorded rapid growth,the 1934 production figures ranging from two to fifteen timesthe 1913 figures . The output of some of the more importantproducts of the heavy chemical industry in the past few years,as compared with production in 1913, is shown in the tablebelow

Among other products of the heavy chemical and allied in-dustries are : hydrochloric acid 18°B. (75,500 tons in 1931and 73,100 tons in 1933) ; chrome ore (88,200 tons in 1931and 109,400 tons in 1933) ; fluorspar (16,6oo and 19,300tons) ; sodium bicarbonate (22,300 and 21,800 tons) ; sodiumsulphate (45,600 and 54,600 tons) ; sodium sulphide (20,800and 24,600 tons) ; sodium bichromate (5,100 and 8,500tons) ; calcium carbide (23,400 and 29,800 tons) ; aluminumsulphate (19,400 and 26,300 tons) ; barium chloride (6,8oo

1913 1928 1 932 1933 1934

Superphosphates - 14%(in thous . tons) 6z r8z 614 708

(prelim .)

890Sulphuric acid (in thous .

tons) 110 242 552 627 782Calcined soda (in thous .

tons) 154 230 285 330 400Paints and varnishes (in

mill . rubles) 13 6o 103 83 89

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and 7,500 tons) ; nitrogen fertilizers, in terms of ammoniumsulphate (35,400 and 138,400 tons) ; aniline dyes (16,300and 16,ooo tons), and barytes (40,100 tons in 1931 and 31,-400 tons in 1933) .

During the first Five-Year Plan period a number of im-portant raw material bases were discovered and developmentwork commenced. The Soviet chemical industry is no longerdependent on imported raw materials . The Khibini apatite andnephelite deposits on the Kola Peninsula will provide abundantsupplies of superphosphates . These concentrates are reported tocompare favorably with the best Morocco phosphorites in qual-ity. In addition, there are the phosphate deposits at Aktyubinsk(Kazakstan) and numerous other deposits of lesser extent . AtSolikamsk (Urals) are potash deposits claimed to be the largestin the world and estimated to contain 22 billion tons of ore .The first potash mine, with an annual capacity of 1 .5 milliontons of potash salts, was opened there in November, 1932, anda second mine, of equal capacity, is under construction . Theseare the largest potash mines in the world. Output of the youngpotassium industry increased from 120,000 tons of crude potashin 1931 to 8oo,ooo tons in 1933 ; output of 22 per cent syl-vinite (potassium chloride) totaled 303,100 tons in 1933 Pro-duction of apatite ore increased from 387,000 tons in 1932to 687,000 tons in 1933 (213,400 tons of concentrates) and1,137,000 tons in 1934 . The development of the Khibini andSolikamsk deposits has enabled the Soviet Union to start theexportation of potash and phosphates .

A basic constituent of nitrogenous fertilizers, synthetic am-monia, is obtained from coke, either coal or peat, of which theSoviet Union has large resources . Hydroelectric power resourcesare also to be utilized during the second Five-Year Plan forthe manufacture of ammonia by the electrolytic method .

Ammonium sulphate, also valuable as a fertilizer, is to be ob-

170


tained from mirabilite, or Glauber's salt, of which immensedeposits are located in the Gulf of Karabugaz on the easterncoast of the Caspian Sea . The Karabugaz mirabilite is excep-tionally pure, being free from magnesium salts, and containsonly 56 per cent water. Though existence of these deposits hasbeen known for many years, their exploitation was undertakenonly in recent years. Geological researches in the past three yearshave uncovered important sulphur deposits in Turkmenistan(Gaurdak) and in the Middle Volga region (Alekseyev andVodinsk) . Sulphur is also obtained from pyrites in two plantsin the Urals. The output of mirabilite in 1933 totaled 448,-200 tons as against 154,400 in 1931 ; of natural sodium sul-phate-97,300 tons as compared with 28,200 in 1931 ; andof pyrites-465,800 tons in 1933 and 380,200 tons in 1931 .

The Soviet Union is known to possess also substantial rawmaterial resources for such products as dyes, synthetic rubber,methyl alcohol, etc . The same holds true for products of wooddistillation and other branches of the chemical industry . Rawmaterials for sulphuric acid manufacture and nitrogen fixationare provided by the waste products of the growing metallurgicalindustry . About 8o per cent of the entire present output of thechemical industry is based on the working up in one form oranother of the products of the fuel and metallurgical indus-tries. The Soviet chemical industry has successfully utilizedlow-grade fuels-brown coal, peat, schist, etc . The Moscowand Ural brown coal, formerly considered of little value,yields an abundance of pyrites, a raw material for sulphuricacid imported from abroad in prewar days . Output of theaniline dye industry totaled 136 .6 million rubles in 1934 asagainst 97 million in 1 933 .

While the main emphasis has been placed upon that group ofchemical enterprises manufacturing producers' goods, markedprogress has also been made in the manufacture of rubber

INDUSTRY

171

articles, consumers' goods, medicines, soaps and cosmetics, photochemicals, etc . Production of the latter products in 1932 wasnearly two and one-half times as large as in 1928 . This is ex-clusive of the new rubber goods plant at Yaroslavl, whichstarted operations at the end of 1932 and is designed to pro-duce more than six million automobile tires annually, 35,000tons of asbestos goods, 25,000 tons of rubber soles and otherrubber goods to a total value of about goo million rubles.

Output of soap increased from 183,600 tons in 1928 to376,300 tons in 1934 . The pharmaceutical industry doubledits production during the first Five-Year Plan. This involvedthe manufacture of 300 new products, including morphine,codein, aspirin, phenacetin, veronal, chloroform, ether, iodine,etc. In addition the production of some 400 reagents has beenmastered . Production of drugs and medicaments totaled 48,-ooo,ooo rubles in 1933 which is still, however, far below thedemand. Output of some of the important products in thisgroup in 1933 totaled (in tons) : bromine-142, iodine-62,mercury preparations-53, salicylic preparations-448, bismuthpreparations- I0, alkaloids-36, ether-67, and barium sul-phate-78 tons . Output of chemicals for destroying insectpests and fungi rose from 15,800 tons in 1931 to 30,000 tonsin 1 934 .

Production of the photo-chemical industry has been as fol-lows in the past few years :

Advances have been made in the development of the rubbermanufacturing industry from the semi-handicraft indus-try of prewar days, producing chiefly rubber shoes, toys, etc.,to a large-scale industry manufacturing not only consumers'goods but goods for the automobile industry (tires, tubes, etc.) .

ITEM UNIT 1927-28 1931 1933Photographic plates thous . sq . meters ,6z 669 647Photographic paper 11

11

" 236 3,399 3,130Moving picture film thous . lin. meters - 1,398 30,658

172


Domestic sources of raw materials have been recently devel-oped, both as regards the cultivation of native rubber-bearingplants (tau-sagiz, Krim-sagiz, etc .) and the organization ofsynthetic rubber production. The discoveries of Soviet scien-tists in working out processes for the manufacture of syntheticrubber have enabled the U .S .S.R. to become a pioneer inthe production of synthetic rubber on a large-scale factorybasis. Two large plants started operations in 1932, at Yaro-slavl and Voronezh, a third in 1933 (Efremov) and twoothers are in course of construction. The manufacture of thisrubber involves a difficult and complicated chemical processstarting from ethylene, which is obtained from alcohol or coal-tar products. Output of synthetic rubber in 1934 totaled 11 ;200 tons. Other important developments in the field of syn-thetic production include synthetic solvents, rosins, varnishes,acetic acid, etc .

Output of rubber tires in the U .S .S.R. in 1933 totaled 705-ooo, representing a gain of 27 .7 per cent over 1932 . In 1934production, totaling 1,500,000 tires, more than doubled . Pro-duction of rubber shoes increased from 37,500,000 pairs in1928 to 61,6oo,ooo in 1933 and 65,000,000 pairs in 1 934 .

The Soviet rayon industry was created during the first Five-Year Plan period. In prewar Russia there was only one smallfactory which produced about 100 tons annually . By the endof 1932 two large modern mills had started operations, a thirdwas completed early in 1933, and others are in process of con-struction. Output in 1934 totaled 5,430 tons as against 6ootons in 1930 .

Below are listed some of the more important of the manynew large modern chemical works or combines which havebeen wholly or partially completed during the past five years .

Urals-Berezniky (2 sections ; 300,000 tons capacity each ;largely high-grade fertilizers-nitrogen, phosphorus, and po-

INDUSTRY 173

tassium) ; Magnitogorsk (largest by-product coking plant inEurope ; also plants manufacturing sulphuric acid, ammonia,phosphates, etc .) ; Asha, near Sverdlovsk (large wood distilla-tion plant) .

Central District-Yegorievsk (superphosphates, ammoniumphosphate, and nitrates) ; Voskresensk sulphuric acid plant,with an annual capacity of 16o,ooo to 240,000 tons ; alsoplants to produce several hundred thousand tons of phosphatesand superphosphates ; Yaroslavl (largest paint and varnishplant in the U.S.S.R.) ; Yaroslavl rubber-asbestos combine ;Bobriky electrochemical combine, to manufacture all kinds ofchemical products-Output of fertilizers alone to total overhalf a million tons. The first section of the Bobriky combine,now renamed Stalinogorsk, cost over 300 million rubles toconstruct and was officially opened in December, 1933 . Theentire combine comprises 110 industrial units, a planned city,and many auxiliary buildings .

The raw materials base is the Moscow coal basin . Formerlyit was believed that this coal was of too low a grade forprofitable exploitation, being mixed with clay rock and graveland containing a high percentage of ash and sulphur, as well asconsiderable moisture. However, these obstacles are reportedto have been overcome : a method of obtaining synthetic am-monia from the coal is reported to have been devised, a tech-nique of coking with an admixture of Don coal worked out,and ways of utilizing the clay, pyrites and gypsum met within mining the coal for the production of fire brick, sulphuricacid and other valuable products perfected .A new town of 40,000 people has been built around

Bobriky. Schools attended by 9,300 children are functioning,as well as a chemical technical institute with 1,500 students .

Ukraine-Dnieper coke and chemical plant ; Slaviansk sodaplant; Kharkov coke by-product plant .


Northwestern District-Neva combine, in Leningrad ; Kan-dalaksha plant, northern Karelia (to work up big deposits ofapatite, nepheline, etc .) ; the Khibini mines now produce i,000,-00o tons of apatite a year and an industrial center of 40,000population has been developed near them .

Central u sia and Kazakstan-Aktyubinsk, in Kazakstan(mineral fertilizers for cotton districts) ; Chirchik River plant,in Uzbekistan (to produce 150,000 tons of nitrogenous fer-tilizers a year, half the requirements of the cotton districts inCentral Asia) . The construction of this plant is associatedwith that of a large hydro-electric project .

In the development of the chemical industry scientific re-search work has played a leading role . More than fifty tech-nical institutes have been founded, employing over io,oooscientifically trained men and women . Among the more im-portant of these are the Karpov Institute, the Nitrogen Insti-tute, the Institute of Applied Chemistry, and the Chemical-Pharmaceutical Institute . The Soviet Union, in addition to itsown qualified chemists and technicians, has employed manyforeign experts . Among the American firms which have ren-dered technical assistance to the Soviet chemical and rubberindustries are : the Koppers Construction Company of Pitts-burgh, Pa . (technical assistance in designing and installing cokeovens) ; the Nitrogen Engineering Corporation of New York(technical assistance in the direction and starting of operationsof the synthetic ammonia plants at Berezniky and Bobriky) ;the Du Pont de Nemours Company of Wilmington, Del .(technical assistance in erecting fertilizer plants) ; the West-vaco Chlorine Products Co., Inc. of South Charleston, W . Va .(technical assistance in the production of chlorine and causticsoda) ; Seiberling Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio (technicalassistance in the design and construction of the Yaroslavl tireplant ; and the Akron Rubber Reclaiming Company of Bar-

INDUSTRY 175

berton, Ohio (technical assistance in the construction of areclamation plant) . In addition to these firms, a number ofprominent American chemists have served as consultants to theSoviet chemical industry .

A considerable part of the machinery imported for theequipment of the new Soviet chemical plants came from theUnited States ($2,250,000 in 1929 and 1930) . However,the largest share was imported from Germany .

' The carrying out of the program of the second Five-YearPlan is expected to place the Soviet Union among the world'sleading producers of chemical products. As regards fertilizers,output is scheduled to increase tenfold . Emphasis is to beplaced upon the production of concentrated and mixed fer-tilizers, which besides being the most effective in raising yieldsare less bulky and consequently more easily transported .

The output of the chemical industry as a whole is scheduledto show a threefold increase-from 1 .9 billion rubles in 1932to 5 .5 billion in 1937 . An especially large gain is planned forbasic chemicals (5 times) . Output of sulphuric acid is plannedto increase from 495,000 tons in 1932 to 2,080,000 tons in1937 ; of calcined soda from 284,000 to 700,000 tons. Similardevelopment is outlined for the coke by-products, aniline, paintand varnish, synthetic products, drug and pharmaceutical, plas-tics, rubber-asbestos, wood distillation and other branches of thechemical industry.

Output of plastics of all kinds is planned to show a speciallylarge increase . Production of resol powder is scheduled to total3,900 tons in 1937 as compared with 470 tons in 1932 ; out-put of asphalt-pitch materials will amount to 5,500 tons asagainst 8o tons while production of various articles from plas-tics is to total 13,650 tons in 1937 as compared with 690tons in 1932. During the period the chemical industry willbegin the manufacture of acetone, acetic acid, methanol, vari-

176


ous alcohols, etc., which were not produced in the U .S .S.R .previous to 1933 . Considerable expansion of the production ofcomplex ethers, many new types of dyes and other organiccompounds is also planned .

Capital investments in the chemical industries supervised bythe Commissariat for Heavy Industry are to total 4 .77 billionrubles for the period . This is more than three times the ex-penditures made during the first Five-Year Plan .

TIMBER AND ALLIED INDUSTRIES

The U.S.S.R. claims first place in the world as regards tim-ber resources, its forest area being estimated at 950 millionhectares (2 .35 billion acres), about one-third of the world'stotal. The forest area extends from north of the Polar Circleto the mountains of Persia on the south and from Karelia onthe west to the shores of Sakhalin on the east ; much of it isvirgin timber. About 6oo million hectares are of industrialvalue, but at the beginning of the first Five-Year Plan onlyabout one-third of this area had been brought under exploita-tion . During the Five-Year Plan period steps were taken toutilize the vast timber regions of the Far North, Siberia andthe Far East to a greater degree . The transportation problemhas constituted a serious difficulty in some of these outlyingregions. The new Baltic-White Sea Canal opens up vast tim-berlands in Karelia and adjoining sections of the Far Northfor Leningrad and other industrial centers . The Northern SeaRoute, already in operation to the mouths of the Ob andYenisei Rivers and now being extended to the Lena River,constitutes an outlet for the timber resources of the northernUrals, Siberia and Yakutia .

To facilitate exploration, preservation and exploitation ofthe timber resources of the U.S.S.R. various measures of reor-ganization have been instituted in recent years. In the latterpart of 1930 all lumber companies and trusts were combined

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in one organization, the United Timber Industry, under thecontrol of the Supreme Economic Council . In January, 1932,the latter was broken up into three commissariats, one beingthe Commissariat of Forestry and the Timber Industry . Thiscommissariat works out and supervises reforestation projects,and has under its control all branches of the timber industry,from the cutting down of the trees to the manufacture ofsawn lumber and lumber products .

The timber industry recorded increases during the first Five-Year Plan. Total deliveries of timber for industrial pur-poses increased from 41 .1 million cubic meters in 1927-28to 99.4 million cu. meters in 1932, an increase of 142 per cent ;of sawn lumber from 11 .5 million to 24 .5 million cu . meters,a gain of 113 per cent ; of plywood from 185,000 to 424,000cu. meters, an increase of 130 per cent . The manufacture ofa number of new products, such as standard houses, silos,packing-boxes, and wooden pipes, was instituted in recent years(1930-32) . To meet the increasing demand for furniture,output was greatly expanded, rising from 56 million rubles in1927-28 to 172 million rubles in 1932 .

In 1933 lumber production declined slightly, output of in-dustrial timber totaling 98 .3 million cubic meters, of sawnlumber 22.8 million cubic meters and of plywood 418,000cubic meters . Shipments of timber for fuel increased from65 .3 million cubic meters in 1932 to 75 .3 million in 1 933 .

The distribution of timber output in 1933 and 1932, byprincipal producers, is given below :

TOTAL OUTPUT SAWN TIMBER

( thous . cu. meters)

1933 1932 1933 1932Commissariat for Timber Industry 62,400 6o,8oo 14,600 15,350Commissariat for Heavy Industry 8,000 9,900 2,120 2,590Commissariat for Transportation 11,200 11,900 1,820 2,070Producers' Cooperatives 4,700 4,000 I,z80 1,500Local Producers 7,600 6,500 2,700 2,850

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Production of a number of branches of the lumber industryshowed substantial increases in 1934 . Output of the Com-missariat for Timber Industry totaled (according to prelim-inary figures) 2,185 million rubles, as compared with 1,903million in 1933 . Production of sawn timber rose from 22 .8million cubic meters in 1933 to 25 million in 1934 . Outputof plywood totaled 492,000 cubic meters, showing a gain of1 o per cent. Output of the wood distillation industry amountedto 86.4 million rubles as compared with 59 .6 million rublesin 1933. Deliveries of timber for industrial purposes totaled99 . 7 million cubic meters, an increase of two per cent ; andfor fuel-84 .8 million cubic meters, a rise of 12 per cent .To attain this output considerable construction work was

carried on during the past several years and important stepswere taken toward the mechanization of the various laborprocesses in the timber industry. As regards local timbertransport, there were Moo kilometers of ice roads for horses,835 km. of ice roads for tractors, 81o km . of narrow-gaugerailways, and 300 km . of mono-rail suspended lines in 1 934 .Tractors were first introduced in the lumber camps in1927-28, and their number increased to more than 1,300by January, 1935 (mostly of the track-laying type) . In addi-tion, 970 trucks, many motor boats, etc ., were at work in thetimber districts in 1934 . In 1934, 19 per cent of the timberwas hauled by mechanized methods . Other work in the lumbercamps is also being mechanized ; electric saws, tie-cutting ma-chines and apparatus to strip off bark are now employed inhundreds of camps .

In the lumber industry there were by the end of 1932 atotal of 2,800 sawmill frames in operation, of which over1,200 were installed during the period of the first Five-YearPlan. The capacity of these newly installed frames constitutesmore than half the total output of the industry. Sixty-five percent of all the newly built sawmills now have more than four

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frames each, and some have from 8 to 12 frames, whereasprior to 1928 one- or two-frame sawmills were the rule . Thenew sawmills are often large plants, comprising in addition tothe sawmill proper many departments (for the manufacture ofboxes, pipe, silos, standard houses, etc .) which utilize the by-products of the mill. In addition to the sawmills there are manyother plants : in 1932 there were 29 veneer plants ; severalplywood mills ; 550 furniture, barrel and box factories ; 81cellulose and paper mills ; 11 wood-chemical plants. In con-structing new plants the type of the nearby timber is taken intoconsideration, paper mills being constructed near fir forestsand furniture factories near oak, beech, chestnut and walnutgroves. Capital investments in the industry totaled 414 millionrubles in 1 933 .

Approximately 1,140,000 people are employed in the tim-ber industry. Formerly work in the lumber camps was purelyseasonal, the peasants working in the forests in the winter,when they were free from farm duties . There is now beingformed a permanent body of skilled lumber workers, theirnumber already totaling about 200,000, and the work is beingorganized so as to permit continuous operations throughout theentire year.

The second Five-Year Plan provides for an output of in-dustrial timber of 170 .0 million cubic meters in 1937, anincrease of 71 .0 per cent over 1932 . The production figuresfor 1937 for sawn timber and plywood are 43 million cubicmeters and 735 million square meters, respectively, represent-ing increases of 76.2 and 73 .8 per cent. Cutting of timber forfirewood is set at 107 .0 million cubic meters, an increase of64 per cent . The output of furniture, which increased slightlyin 1933, is scheduled to reach 507 million rubles, a threefoldincrease during the period .

A large development is planned for the wood distillationbranch of the lumber industry . The following table shows the

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production planned for 1937 for some of the products, ascompared with the output in 1 932-1 934 .

This program will necessitate the building of many newsawmills, 13 plywood factories with an annual capacity of400,000 cubic meters, and other enterprises . Mechanizationof all branches of the timber industry will be extended. Totalcapital investments in the timber and wood-working industriesfor the five-year period are set at over three billion rubles .

The great bulk of the output of the timber industry hasbeen absorbed at home, not over 15 per cent having been ex-ported. This accounts for the fact that, while gross output oftimber has for a number of years been far above the prewarlevel, exports only approximate the 1913 figure, according toofficial statistics .

Total exports of timber from prewar Russia (present terri-tory of the U .S.S.R .) and the Soviet Union are given in thetable following :

QUANTITY

YEARVALUE

(million rubles) (thous . cubic meters)(per centof 19r3)

1913 126 .5 10,358 1001922 15.1 1,005 101923 30 .7 2,171 211924 48 .2 3,370 3 31925 71 .5 3,700 361926 56.5 3,147 301927 8z .6 4,205 401928 104.9 5,486 531929 145 .7 9,200 891930 169 .7 12,197 1181931 113 .6 9,926 951932 8o .5 9,360 9o1933 76 .7 10,300 991934 89 .1 + Io,66z 103

1932 1933 1934 1937Turpentine (thousand tons) 36 .3 5o.6 64.5 67.0

Acetic Acid too% (thousand tons) 2 .7 4.9 7.1 1241

Charcoal (thousand tons) 6z.6 79 .9 - 195.3Charcoal Briquets (thousand tons) - - - 96.0

Resin (thousand tons) 24.3 38 .4 49 .7 64.0

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In 1929 the U.S.S.R. regained its prewar position as firstamong European exporters of timber, as compared with fourthrank in 1928. Beginning with 1930 its timber exports in-creased to the point where it became sceond, after Canada,among world exporters .

Sawn lumber, pulpwood, logs and pit props are the chiefitems of Soviet timber exports, accounting for approximatelygo per cent of the total volume . Great Britain has been theprincipal market, taking nearly 40 per cent of total timberexports. Shipments to this country have made up only1 or 2 per cent of total American imports of lumber duringthe past three years, and a small fraction of i per cent of totalAmerican consumption . Imports of Soviet lumber consist mainlyof spruce lumber and pulpwood, of which the United Statesproduces an insufficient amount and has to import largequantities each year .

In 1929 trial shipments of Soviet pulpwood, totaling 9,500cords were imported . This pulpwood proving satisfactory, im-ports in subsequent years were made as follows : 175,000 cordsin 1930, 52,000 in 1931, and 26,000 in 1933 (U. S. customsstatistics) . This amounts to from 3 .5 to 11 per cent of the totalimports of pulpwood into the United States . The drastic de-cline in imports was due in part to restrictions imposed on theimportation of Soviet pulpwood which have since been removed .Paper Industry

Despite the immense resources of raw material available forthe manufacture of paper, prewar Russia had to import about4o per cent of her paper supply, due to insufficient domesticmanufacture. Up to the beginning of the first Five-Year Planperiod imports still exceeded 1 oo,ooo tons annually, but, asthe new mills came into operation and domestic productionincreased, imports recorded a marked decline . This is shown inthe following table which gives annual production and importfigures for paper and cardboard ;

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A substantial increase in home production and declinein imports has taken place as regards cellulose and woodpulp,which were imported into prewar Russia to the extent of 75per cent of the industry's requirements . Thus, production ofcellulose in 1934 amounted to 236,000 tons, almost six timesthe 1913 figure (41,000 tons) and two and three-quarterstimes the output in 1927-28 (86,ooo tons) . Production ofwoodpulp in 1933 reached 277,000 tons, as against 84,000in 1927-28, while imports dropped from 73,200 tons in1927-28 to 2,246 tons in 1 933 .Paper Industry

Despite the progress made, the paper industry has failedto attain the schedules set by the Five-Year Plans and fallsshort of supplying the growing needs of the home market . Therise in literacy has increased paper consumption, especiallynewsprint . Newspaper circulation by 1932 had risen to 36million, as compared with 8.8 million at the beginning of theFive-Year Plan and 2 .7 million in 1913 . Demand has de-veloped at a much faster pace than output, a situation whichaccounts primarily for the shortage of paper in the U .S .S .R .One of the factors retarding production increases in the paperindustry has been delays in carrying out the program for newconstruction and the expansion and re-equipment of old plants,due largely to difficulties in obtaining sufficient quantities of

OUTPUT IMPORTS

(metric tons)Prewar average 220,000 147,0001924-25 233,103 115,7631925-26 233,672 146,5171926-27 306,270 1 07, 8 561927-28 320,523 100,3201928-29 435,268 73,1801929-30 555,000 72,4401931 6oo,5oo 29,0261932 514,000 6241933 554,000 5591934 61z,ooo 457

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machinery . Although imports of paper machinery averagedmore than one million rubles annually in the period 1930-

1932 and despite the fact that domestic manufacture of suchmachinery was begun in 1931, it was found impossible tobuild and equip all the twenty or so new plants scheduled inthe Five-Year Plan program . However, a number of hugenew mills were constructed . Among the more important ofthose already in full or partial operation are :

The combining of the two manufacturing processes-cellu-lose and paper-in one plant results in a considerable economy,it is claimed, since it obviates the necessity of drying andtransporting the cellulose and makes possible a more rationalutilization of power. All the new plants are equipped with themost up-to-date machinery . The Volga plant has three high-power machines, with cylinders capable of a speed of 360

meters per minute . More than i o0 large machine units forpaper and cardboard production are scheduled to be installedand put into operation during the second Five-Year Plan .Total output of the paper industry in 1937 is planned toreach 1 .12 million tons of paper and cardboard, more thandouble the 1932 production. Even this amount may not beadequate to meet the growing requirements .

Of the total 1937 paper production, 650,000 tons is to beproduced in existing or reconstructed plants and 350,000 inplants completed during the period of the second Five-Year

ESTIMATED FULLCAPACITY

NAME REGION (metric tons)Balakhna cardboard factory Gorky I5,ooo (cardboard)Volga cellulose-paper com-

bine Gorky 130,000 (newsprint)Syas cellulose-paper 75,000 (cellulose)

combine Leningrad 40,000 (newsprint)4,800 (wrapping paper)

Kondopoga cellulose-papercombine Karelia 25,000 (newsprint)

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Plan. Aside from the enlargement of the old factories, fivenew plants, with capacities ranging from 55,000 to 88,ooo tonsa year, are to be started, as well as a number of smaller plants .Capital investments in the paper industry for the period 1932-1937 are to total 870 million rubles .

BUILDING MATERIALS

In addition to the many new factories and industrial plantsconstructed during the first Five-Year Plan, involving the ex-penditure of from 10 to 15 billion rubles, large sums havebeen spent in general building construction-dwellings, clubs,hotels, hospitals, etc. Not only have the old cities and industrialcenters increased rapidly in population, necessitating additionalhousing, but entirely new cities are being constructed in con-nection with the new industrial enterprises .

All this construction work put heavy demands on the build-ing materials industry . As for lumber, these domestic demandshave been fairly well covered, but despite greatly increasedoutput (production of the main items has increased from two tofive times in the past five years) there has been a considerableshortage in other building materials . The 1932 and 1933 pro-duction figures as compared with 1927-28 and the schedulefor 1937 are given in the following table :

1927-28 1932 1933 1937Cement (mill . bbls .) 11 .0 22 .4 18 .0 48 .3Lime (thous . tons) 520.0 2,986 .0 1,922 4,850 .0Chalk (thous . tons) 123 .0 603 .0 - -Alabaster (thous . tons) 241 .0 475 .0 446 1,200.0Bricks (billions) 1 .78 4 .74 3 .67 8 .oRefractory bricks (thous . tons) 430 .0 793 .0 899 .0 2,300.0Silicate bricks (thous . tons) 94.9 178 .0 204 8oo .oTar paper (mill . rolls) 1 .2 3 .4 4.2 6 .6Rubberoid (thous . rolls) 38 .0 395 .0 566 2,000.0Artificial slate (mill . sheets) 38 .4 114 .6 - -Roofing tiles (millions) - 54 .0 47 .9 200 .0Glass, total (thous . tons) 396 .0 388 .0 1,033 .0Glass, window (thous . tons) 132 .0 166 .o - -Asbestos (thous . tons) - 6o.o 74.0 200.0

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Production of cement increased considerably in 1934 . Out-put, totaling 23.2 million barrels, showed an increase of 28per cent over 1933 . Production of bricks rose to 4 .6 billion .

Large sums were expended during the period of the firstFive-Year Plan in the construction of new works and the re-construction of old plants producing building materials . In thecement industry alone 323 million rubles were spent for thispurpose. New plants with a total capacity of 14 .5 million bar-rels were built, while the capacity of the fourteen old workswas raised from 10 .5 to 17 .6 million barrels. The quality ofcement produced is now much higher ; 65 per cent of the totaloutput in 1932 consisted of high-grade quick-setting cement .The production of lime, chalk and alabaster has been trans-formed from a handicraft to a factory basis, a number ofplants with a capacity of from 50,000 to 100,000 tons havingbeen built . Many new, mechanized brickyards were estab-lished, with an output of from 50 to 100 million bricks a year.

The extensive construction of new steel mills, coke batteries,coke chemical plants, and steam power plants created a largedemand for refractory materials, which in the early years ofthe first Five-Year Plan could not be met by domestic manu-facture . The reconstruction of old refractory materials plantsand the construction of new plants at the Kuznetz andMagnitogorsk mills and of special refractory and silicate brickworks have been carried out .

Since it was found necessary to divert the supply of roofingiron to meet the requirements of the oil, machine-building andother industries, the production of other types of roofing ma-terials, such as tar paper, rubberoid and artificial slate, wasincreased. Glass production, formerly largely semi-handicraftin form, was mechanized to the extent of over 30 per cent. Ofthe 166,ooo tons of window glass manufactured in 1932,122,000 tons were plate-glass produced by machinery, as against

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only 14,000 tons so produced in 1927-28 . Many new complexproducts are now being manufactured, such as triplex glass,complex lenses, Dutch glass for high-pressure boilers, search-light glass, etc .

One of the means taken to overcome the shortage of build-ing materials has been to utilize waste products or materials ofwhich there is a great abundance and thus obtain buildingmaterials at less cost than ordinary bricks, roofing paper, etc .Examples of such materials are artificial slate, roofing manu-factured from peat mixed with cheap concrete or cement,"kamisheet" made out of kamish reeds, artificial stone slabsmade from combinations of various materials : fibralite (wooddust, lime and magnesite) ; slag cement (a mixture of cement,lime and slag) ; and combinations of straw or reeds and wire .The products are reported durable, water-proof and less heat-conducting than bricks. The use of artificial slabs, owing totheir large size and light weight, is expected to speed construc-tion work up considerably, and it is therefore planned to usethem instead of brick on about ¢o per cent of the constructionwork on which brick would ordinarily be used . Output of thebuilding materials industry as a whole is scheduled to increaseby 133 per cent from 1932 to 1937 (amounting in the latteryear to 1 .7 billion rubles) . Capital investments for the fiveyears are set at 1 .5 billion rubles. Of this total 352 millionrubles will be invested in the cement industry, 6oo million inrefractory materials plants, etc .

FOOD INDUSTRYDuring the first Five-Year Plan period the problem of in-

creasing the food supply was approached along several lines :

(1) increasing the output of raw material for the food indus-try, i . e., various farm crops, meat, fish and dairy products ;

(2) overcoming temporary difficulties in the food supply,caused by inadequate transportation and distributing facilities

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and the wholesale slaughter of cattle in the years of intensivereorganization of the system of agriculture 093 0-1 93 2 ) ;(3) increasing the capital investments in the food industry,especially for the construction of new flour mills, sugar re-fineries, packing plants, canneries, etc. ; (4) concentrating theindustry under one supervising head, the Commissariat forInternal Supply, formed in November, 1930 . In July, 1 934,this Commissariat was split up into two separate commissariats-for internal trade and for the food industry .

As regards the raw materials supply, the development oflarge-scale state and collective farms has resulted in an in-crease in the marketable output of the various farm crops,such as grain, sugar beets, potatoes and other vegetables .Progress has also been made in improving transportation facili-ties and distribution by the co-operatives. The organization oflarge-scale socialized restaurants, of which a network has beenestablished throughout the country, has helped considerably toalleviate distribution difficulties . Another important step in thisdirection was the establishment of closed distribution centers,which serve only the workers in the particular enterprises towhich they are attached .

In order to overcome the shortage of meat and dairy prod-ucts, the same program was instituted as that previously appliedto the grain problem, namely, the organization of many large-scale state and collective stock-breeding and dairy farms . Spe-cial emphasis was laid on the state hog-breeding ranches as ameans of securing an immediate supply of meat in the intervalnecessary to build up the cattle herds . Also the production ofcanned meat was pushed and likewise that of vegetable oilsand margarine as substitutes for butter and other animal fats .

Capital investments from 1928 to 1933 totaled 3 billionrubles, as against half a billion rubles for the preceding five-year period (1924-1928) . The greater share of these invest-

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ments went into the construction of new, large plants, builtand equipped in accordance with modern standards, Americantechnique being followed to a great extent . A delegation ofthe United Meat Industry came to the United States in thefall of 1930 to draw up detailed plans and specifications fora number of large meat-packing plants which have since beenbuilt and put into operation. Much of the machinery andequipment installed in the new plants is imported . The num-ber of new factories opened in the past five years totaled morethan 700.

Prior to the year 1929 meat-packing was carried on in theantiquated slaughter houses, with no refrigerating equipmentand with no departments for the utilization of by-products .Since then 2o big meat-packing plants have been constructed,and new departments (for sausage production, fat products,bristles, etc) were added to many of the old plants .

Two large meat packing plants-one in Moscow and theother at Srednaya Rogatka, near Leningrad-started opera-tions in December, 1933 . They were erected at a cost of 55and 72 million rubles, respectively .

Progress has also been made in the canning industry . Atthe beginning of the first Five-Year Plan period there were22 factories with an aggregate capacity of 100 millioncans a year ; by the end of 1932 there were 48 plants with acapacity of one billion cans a year . In the newly built plantsall labor processes are mechanized and production is organizedon the conveyor system. Canned milk was not produced at allprior to 1932 . Now several canned milk factories, modeledafter the latest American technique, have been erected . Amongother new canned products are corn, whole tomatoes, and porkand beans.

Dozens of new, modernly equipped flour and sugar millshave been put up, many of them in formerly undeveloped re-

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gions, such as Kazakstan, Siberia and the Far Eastern Region .Seven factories for the manufacture of margarine, the produc-tion of which was begun in 1930, are now in operation .These range in capacity from 6,ooo to 20,000 tons annually .A number of other new plants have been recently constructedfor the manufacture of spaghetti and macaroni, confectionery,non-alcoholic beverages, starch and molasses, corn products,soy bean milk, etc.

During the years 1929-1932, seven large sugar refiningplants were put into operation ranging in capacity from 85to 340 tons of refined sugar daily . The total cost of construct-ing and equipping these refineries amounted to more than 68million rubles.

Large mechanized bakeries are to a great extent replacingthe small hand bakeries of prewar days . Between 1930 and1933, the number of such mechanized bakeries increased from67 with a daily capacity of 4,400 tons of bread to 211 with adaily production of 13,500 tons. In addition there are 169smaller units with a total daily production of 4,800 tons . Thetotal production of these bakeries in 1933 amounted to 5,700,-000 tons of bread.

The gross production of the food industry in 1932 totaled5 .66 billion rubles, three and one-half times the 1928 figureand considerably in excess of the Five-Year Plan schedule for1932-33. The output of a number of food products recordedexceptionally high increases, notably that of canned goods andconfectionery, the 1932 outputs of which were, respectively,eight and six times that of 1928 .

In 1933 there was a comparatively small increase (six percent), the output totaling six billion rubles . Of this tota).,industries under the supervision of the Commissariat for FoodIndustry accounted for 3,743 million rubles . In 1934, enter-prises controlled by the newly formed Commissariat increased

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their production by 25 .6 per cent to 4.7 billion rubles . Pro-duction figures in some of the principal branches of the foodindustry in recent years are given in the following table

Production of meat rose to 461,2oo tons in 1934, a 21 percent increase over 1933, while output of dairy products rose to167,6oo tons. Output of some of the other products of thefood industry, practically all of them showing considerable in-creases over 1933, were : Fish catch, 1 .5 million tons ; granu-lated sugar, 1 .4 million tons ; confectionery, 546,000 tons ;butter, 128,600 tons; vegetable oils, 352,000 tons ; margarine,68,900 tons ; canned goods, 886,500 cans; cheese, 16,700

tons; whole milk and sour milk products, 344,000 tons; fruitsand vegetables, 709,000 tons; alcohol (ioo°), 4,825,000

hectoliters ; cigarettes, 70.6 billion ; macaroni, 209,500 tons ;starch and molasses, 191,000 tons ; yeast, 26,900 tons; beer,

4,397,000 hectoliters ; non-alcoholic beverages, 7,441,000

hectoliters ; wines, 774,000 hectoliters, vodkas, 534,000 hec-toliters ; salt, 3,400,000 tons.

Fish plays an important r5le on the domestic food market .As a consequence of the recent construction of refrigeratingplants and canneries the population is now being provided with

PRODUCT 1928-29 1930 1931 1932 1933Food industry, total (mill .

rubles, 1gz6-27 prices) 2,537 .1 4,221 .2 5,324 .6 5,66o .o 5,996 .5Flour and grits (thous. tons) 4193 .2 6,443 .7 7,604.2 8,,oz.o 9,oz5 .oFish catch (thous. tons) 972.0 1,797.1 1,433 .4 1,333 .0 1 i 300.0Vegetable oil (thous . tons) 363 .3 317 .8 321 .6 409 .7 284 .oMargarine (thous. tons) - 6.3 zo .6 38.6 6o.oSugar, gran . (thous. tons) 915.0 1,519 .7 1,524.8 828 .2 1,100.0

Canned goods (mill. cans) 104.7 229 .2 313 .4 7,6.o 750.0Macaroni (thous. tons) 50 .4 99 .2 160 .3 195 .4 173 . 0Starch-molasses (thous . tons) 70.8 99 .9 102 .5 130 .3 161 .8Confectionery (thous . tons) 135.6 271 .5 517.9 572.2 479 .0Cigarettes (billions) 53 .2 6z .6 65 .6 67.4 70 .0Meat (thous . tons) - 550 .0 691 .8 435 .0 380.0Salt (thous. tons) 2,670.0 3,234.0 3,200.0 2,659 .0 2,900.0Butter (thous. tons) 72 . 9 39 .5 6o.o 65 .1 124.0

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both fresh and canned fish in addition to dry or salted fish,which in prewar days constituted the main part of the supply .The fish resources of the Soviet Union are among the mostimportant in the world . Russia's fisheries enjoyed a position ofconsiderable importance even in prewar times, when primitivemethods were employed. By 1930 the output exceeded thatof prewar by 30 per cent and had attained the level set for thelast year of the Five-Year Plan .Ry continued intensive development and the application of

scientific methods and equipment it is planned to increase theproduction several times. During the first Five-Year Planperiod capital investments for the fishing industry totaled over350 million rubles, chiefly for refrigerating plants and canningfactories. Much of the equipment has been purchased abroad,partly in the United States. The main center of the fishingindustry is the Volga-Caspian region, which provides about halfthe annual catch, but the Arctic-White Sea and the FarEastern fisheries are gaining in importance with the increasingemphasis on deep-sea fishing . The proportion of the total catchcontributed by this type of fishing rose from 17 per cent in1913 to 34.5 in 1933 .

In the four years from 1929 to 1933 the number of motorvessels in the fishing industry increased from 56 to 4,500 (in-cluding 96 trawlers, 66 seiners, 97 whalers and sealers, and 10crab vessels) . However, the process of mechanization is onlybeginning, as is indicated by the fact that the total fleet com-prises 110,000 boats. The industry also had in 1933, 50 can-neries with a capacity of nearly 300 million cans, 12 refrigera-tion plants with a capacity of 8oo tons, nine ice factories, 27by-products plants, eight shipbuilding yards and 26 cooperagemills. The number of people employed in the fisheries amountedto 250,000 and in the other enterprises to 136,000 . Over 8oper cent of the fishermen are organized into collectives .

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The food industry supplies a considerable volume of ex-ports. The principal exports of the industry are vegetable oils,butter and eggs, fish, caviar, sugar and canned goods . Owing,however, to the improvement of the trade balance and theincreased domestic consumption of these products, there hasbeen a considerable decline in sales of food products abroad,in recent years . Exports of fish for example, dropped from48,533 tons in 1931 to 29,168 tons in 1933 ; of sugar, from320,000 tons to 38,000 tons .

The second Five-Year Plan provides for the construction ofmany new plants in the various branches of the food industry .Total capital investments for the period 1932-1937 are set atfive billion rubles . Of this sum, 505 million rubles are allottedto the meat packing industry, goo million to the fish industry,1,090 million to sugar, 120 million to confectionery, 220million to the canning industry and 141 million to dairyproducts. The gross production of the industry is scheduledto show in 1937 an increase of 254 per cent over 1932 and toamount to 14 .4 billion rubles. The planned expansion in outputof the principal items during the period is indicated by thefollowing table :

PRODUCT UNIT 1932 1937Meat thous . tons 435 1,200

Fish (catch) " 1,333 1,800Sugar (gran .) 8z8 2,500Margarine 39 120Canned goods mill . cans 716 2,000Butter thous . tons 65 180

Cheese " 12 . 5 37Flour and grits " 8,1oz 14,000Confectionery products 572 1 ,350Macaroni " 195 510Salt 2,659 6,oooCigarettes billion 67 125Beer thous hectoliters 4,179 7,500Non-alcoholic beverages "

" 6,075 16,ooo

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During the period, 17 additional meat packing plants, nowpartially completed, are to be put into operation, and construc-tion of 23 new plants begun . The total capacity of theseplants will be 54.1,000 tons annually and their cost is put at620 million rubles .

Twenty-three canning plants, some of which were underconstruction in 1931 and 1932, are scheduled to be put intooperation . Their total cost will reach 118 million rubles ; theircapacity is set at 523 million cans of various products and 1,250tons of powdered milk annually. There is to be a large ex-pansion of the fishing fleet and of processing and canningfacilities .

MANUFACTURED CONSUMERS' GOODS

Many branches of the light industries showed advancesduring the first Five-Year Plan, during which period the outputof the clothing industry increased by over 440 per cent, that ofthe shoe industry by about 220 per cent and that of the knitgoods industry by nearly 150 per cent . The textile industry,however, recorded a decline in output, due largely to an inade-quate supply of raw materials . This accounted in the main forthe failure of light industry as a whole to fulfill its program .

In prewar Russia all branches of light industry-textile,shoes, etc .-imported practically all their equipment fromabroad . Only the simplest weaving looms and equipment wereof domestic manufacture . With the development of the ma-chine-building industry, particularly during the first Five-YearPlan, the domestic manufacture of machinery for light industryhas been accelerated. For the textile industry alone more than125 types of new machines are now being manufactured . Thishas facilitated the re-equipment and reconstruction of many ofthe old enterprises manufacturing consumers' goods and the


equipment of new enterprises with modern machinery . Amongthe many new factories in light industry which commencedoperations during the four years of the first Five-Year Planare: 13 large cotton textile mills (i million spindles), 3 largeknitting mills, 3 linen factories, 4 woolen mills, 13 clothingfactories, 4 shoe factories,i i tanneries, 2 cinema film factories,scores of printing shops, etc . Most of the new mills which havebeen built and those now under construction are located close

to the sources of raw material . While formerly therewas but a single important center of the cotton textile industry(the Ivanovo Industrial Region in the central part of Euro-pean Russia), in recent years a number of mills have been

constructed in Transcaucasia and Central Asia, the principalcotton-growing regions .

During the period of the first Five-Year Plan the domesticbase of raw materials for the various light industries was broad-ened . Production of the most important textile fibers-cotton, flax and hemp-recorded large increases; the cultiva-tion of various new fiber plants, such as kendyr, rami, southernhemp, etc., has also been developed . The latter constitute animportant supplementary base of raw material for the "cotton-ite" (cotton substitute) industry . Considerable progress haslikewise been made in the production of artificial raw materials,such as rayon, artificial wool, leather substitutes, syntheticrubber, etc.

Coincident with the extension of the raw material base forlight industry, the processes for the primary treatment of thevarious raw materials have been mechanized to an increasingextent. At the beginning of the Five-Year Plan period therewere only two plants for the primary treatment of hemp and18 for that of flax . By the end of 1932 there were 65 plantsfor hemp and 350 for flax already in operation and hundredsmore were in process of construction . The number of ginning

INDUSTRY

machines at the cotton-ginning plants had increased from 492in 1928 to 651 in 1932 .

During the period of the first Five-Year Plan the manufac-ture of many new products in established branches of theindustry was initiated and entirely new branches were estab-lished to meet the increased and more diversified demands ofthe consumers. Among these may be mentioned : musical instru-ments, phonograph records, cameras, radio receivers, motionpicture apparatus, watches, sporting goods, etc .

The following table shows the production of some of themost important consumers' goods in 1928, 1932 and 1933, andthe growth scheduled during the second Five-Year Plan :

* x927-28 figures .t Commissariat for Light Industry only .

195

1937

PRODUCT x928 1932

(and Five-Year

1933

Plan)UNIT

Cotton cloth (total) Mill . meters 2,871 2,713 2,816

5,tooLinen cloth (total) Mill . sq . meters 174 130 135 6ooLinen cloth, consumers' tt

tt

a 30 - 323Woolen cloth, consumers' Mill . meters 99 95 85 .2 226 .6Silk cloth «

It 9 .8 21 .6 25 .5 64 .0Clothing Mill. rubles 365 * 1,510 1,510 3,130KnitgoodstlHosiery

tt

a

Mill . pairs

8 9 * 504zo8

589243

2,300725

Shoes, leather u

It 23 * 8z 75 .5 18oRubbers It

tt 37 .5 64 .7 61 .6 100

Soap, total (4o% fatcontent) Thous. tons 183 .6 357 .2 295 1,000

Glass, total It

K 320 396 .4 388 1,033G1ass,Comm. Light Ind . It

u 277.2 270 8ooPorcelain and chinaMatches

It

It

5 .683 .65 .6

837

,8o12Mill . cases

Furniture Mill. rubles 172 - 506 .7Household utensils u

a 38-3 150WatchesBeds

K

a zo.8499

24-

too1,700Thousands

Velocipedes ut 10 .8* ,z8 140 575Sewing machines z85 .6* 328 .7 z66 450Electric lamps Millions 13 .7* 54.2 69 .5 180

In 1933 light industry increased its output by three per centover 1932 and in 1934 there was an increase of 5 .4 per cent .Production in the latter year, totaling 8 .96 billion rubles, was35 per cent greater than in 1930 . Output of the knit-goodsindustry more than doubled, amounting to 713,000,ooo rublesin 1 934 as against 318,ooo,ooo in 1930 and 589,000,000rubles in 1933, while the silk industry increased its outputfrom 134,ooo,ooo rubles in 1930 to 254,000,000 in 1 934 .The cotton textile industry produced goods valued at 2.94billion rubles in 1934, including 2 .7 billion meters of cottoncloth, as compared with 2 .27 billion rubles in 1930 ; the drygoods industry-253,000,000 rubles as compared with 91million. Output of linen cloth in 1934 totaled 160 .5 millionsquare meters, according to preliminary estimates ; of stockings-232 million pairs, and of silk cloth-28 million meters, rep-resenting increases of 18 .5, 1o and 24 per cent, respectively.Production of woolen cloth showed a decline of 16 per cent .The musical instrument industry produced goods to the valueof 31 million rubles in 1934 as compared with 13 million in1930 .

Output of some other products of light industry in 1934and the percentage increases over 1933 was as follows : knittedunderwear-4o,400,000 pieces (37.4%) ; knitted outerwear

196


1937

PRODUCT

UNIT 1928 1932

(2nd Five-Year

1933

Plan)Radio receiving sets

Thousands 29 . 3 30 5ooCameras

" - 12 95 140Phonographs - 57.8 98 1,500Phonograph records

Millions 1 .7 2 .1 40String instruments

Thousands 659 .9 6zz z,16oKeyboard instruments

" 3 .8 4 .0 28Motion picture film

Mill. meters - 25.7 32 . 8 300Perfumery and cosmetics Mill . rubles - 186 - 396Dry goods and notions

"

" - 490 - 1,365

INDUSTRY 1 97

-16,500,000 pieces (25 .6%) ; gloves-23,900,000 millionpairs (59-9%0) ; twine-21,300 tons (i&8%); rope 27,400tons (22 .3%0) ; rope cable-17,400 tons (no increase) ; sacks-5 2 , 100 ,000 03-5'70) ; window glass-50 million squaremeters (35-970) ; household porcelain and chinaware- 37,-000 tons (decline of 12 .3%) ; pencils-4,000,000 boxes(34.200) ; radio receiving sets - 70,000 ( 1 33 .300) ;radio tubes-2,700,000 (42 .15/6) ; phonographs-203,000(1o6%) ; phonograph records-2,557,000 09-570-The output of light industry as a whole is scheduled to

more than double during the second Five-Year Plan . Consid-erable attention is being devoted to the construction of newand reconstruction of old plants. During 1933 and 1 934capital investments in the industry totaled 1,433.3 millionrubles, as compared with 570 million in the previous twoyears. Among the more important projects started duringthis period are : the Tashkent textile mill, the first unit ofwhich will have a capacity of 61 .7 million meters of clothand which began operations in 1935 ; the Barnaul mill, whichwill contain 100,300 spindles and 1,584 looms when com-pleted-by January 1, 1935, 20,000 spindles and 6oo loomshad been installed ; the Gomel glass plant, several large silkmills and knit-goods factories, etc .Producers' Co-operatives

The above table covers not only the output of large-scalestate industry but also the small-scale enterprises operated bythe producers' co-operatives. The latter occupy an importantrole in provisioning the population with consumers' goods .In certain branches of the textile, clothing and wood-workingtrades these co-operatives account for from one-quarter toone-half of the total output .

The second Five-Year Plan provides for a further increasein the number of workers and artisans working in producers'

198


cooperatives, both in city and village . The number of personsengaged in such small-scale production is scheduled to increaseto 2,520,000 in 1937, a gain of 38 per cent over 1932 . Theproduction of this branch of industry is to reach 13 .97 billionrubles in 1937 as compared with 6 .98 billion in 1932 . Anincreasing share in the total output of the producers' coopera-tives will be taken by consumers' goods, such as toys, musicalinstruments, educational products, sports goods, etc. (67 percent in 1937 as against 2o per cent in 1932) . The increaseplanned in the output of producers' cooperatives is shown inthe following table :

1932

1937TOTAL CONSUMERS' TOTAL

CONSUMERS'GOODS PRODUCTION

GOODSPRODUCTION

Production of the Commissariat for Light Industry is sched-uled to rise from 7 .8 billion rubles in 1932 to 19.5 billion in1937, a gain of 149 per cent. To accomplish this growth willnecessitate capital investments of over eight billion rubles .Among the new enterprises will be included 50 large cotton,woolen, linen and silk mills, 18 knitting plants and 21 shoefactories. The number of spindles in the cotton industry isplanned to increase from 8,002,000 in 1932 to 11,200,000 in1937 ; the number of looms from 197,000 to 250,000 . Inthe woolen mills the number of thread machines will rise from65,6oo to 112,500, the number of twisters from 279,000 to350,000, and the number of looms from 12,200 to 20,000 .The number of flax spindles is to increase from 334,000 to

BRANCH OF INDUSTRY (In thousands o f rubles)Metal working 695 225 i,z6o 86oChemical 261 172 56o 435Woodworking 669 296 1,320 940Leather and fur 752 576 1,170 1,120Dry goods 225 185 58o 56oCultural goods 183 129 5oo 430Food 979 979 2,473 2,473

INDUSTRY 199

700,00, and a corresponding expansion is planned for otherindustries .

ELECTRIFICATIONPre-war Russia was one of the most backward countries in

power development. The capacity in 1913 of all power plantson the territory of the present U .S .S.R . amounted to 1 .1 mil-lion kilowatts, with an output of 1 .9 billion kilowatt-hours. Ofthe prewar power plants only nine (3 in Moscow, 4 in Lenin-grad, and 2 in Baku) exceeded 5,000 kw. in capacity . Eventhis small power base was to a large extent destroyed duringthe world and civil wars. By 1920, when the governmentwas able to undertake the task of rehabilitation, the powerindustry was consequently in a most critical state . Realizing theimportance of building up a power base for the entire economyof the country, an electrification program was drawn up in192o and 1921, at Lenin's initiative, by a specially constitutedState Commission for the Electrification of the Soviet Union(Goelro). This program provided for the building of 3o re-gional electric power plants with a total capacity of 1 .5 millionkw. within from 10 to 15 years. Together with the prerevolu-tionary stations this was to provide for a total capacity of 1 .7million kw. for all the regional plants in the country .

By 1931 the Goelro plan had already been fulfilled, thecapacity of the regional plants at the end of that year totaling2.1 million kw . By the end of 1934 their capacity amountedto 4 .2 million kw ., more than double that of the Goelro sched-ule and twenty-five times the prewar figure . The capacityof all power plants totaled 6 .1 million kw. and the annualoutput reached 20.5 billion kw .-h. As compared with the pre-war period, capacity was over five times and output over tentimes as great . The U.S.S.R. now ranks third in output ofpower, as compared with fifteenth in 1913 and tenth in 1928 .

The most rapid development took place during the course of

200


the first Five-Year Plan, the annual increase in output duringthis period averaging 27 per cent . In 1933 the gain was 18 .4per cent while in 1934 power production was 25 per cent abovethat of 1933 . The progress from year to year is set forthin the following table :

The more rapid pace of development of the regional plantsis clear from the fact that in 1934 both the capacity and outputof these power plants were about seven times as large as in1928, as against about 4 times for all power plants . The sharetaken by the regional plants in the total output rose from 40 to74 per cent during the six years. In 1928 the average capacityof the regional power plants amounted to 34,000 kw . ; by theend of 1932 this had risen to 61,ooo kw. In 1928 there wasnot a single station with a capacity of 100,000 kw. ; by theend of 1934 there were eleven.

The capacity of the turbo-generators installed at these largepower plants range from 25,000 to 62,000 kw., as comparedwith 1o,ooo-kw. units prior to the first Five-Year Planperiod. The concentration of power production in a smallnumber of large regional stations, one of the basic principles ofthe Goelro plan, was thus realized as a result of the power plantconstruction (involving the expenditure of almost 3 billion ru-bles) carried out during the past five years . The followingtable lists the principal regional power plants in operation in1935 and indicates their location and the kind of fuel used :

1913 1928 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934Capacity (at end of year,

thous . kw .)All plants 1,098 1,905 2,876 3,972 4,696 5,579 6,143Regional plants 177 626 1,419 2,376 3,028 3,757 4,280

Output (million kw:h.)All plants 1,945 5,007 8,368 Lo,687 13,576 16,366 20,500Regional plants 431 2,001 4,541 6,474 9,217 11,400 15,150

Share of regional plantsin total (in per cent)

Capacity 16 .1 32 .9 49.3 59 .8 64 .5 67.3 69.7Output 22 .2 40 .0 54 .3 6o .6 67 .9 69.7 73 .9

INDUSTRY 201

TOTAL

1 More generally known as Dnieprostroy, the name applied during the time of itsconstruction .

a Large power plants built at the new industrial enterprises - the Berezniky chemicalcombine and the Stalinsk and Magnitogorsk steel mills . They supply power not only to theplant to which they are connected but to the adjoining territory as well, and consequentlymay be included among the regional stations .

Practically all of the large plants listed above use waterpower or some other form of cheap fuel-peat, lignite,anthracite slack, etc. The utilization of this type of fuel, bythe erection of power plants directly adjacent to such sourcesof power, was the second basic principle of the Goelro plan .In prewar Russia power plants used exclusively high-grade

NAME

Dnieproges 1

REGION

FUEL ORPOWER SOURCE

CAPACITY PROJECTEDIN 1932 CAPACITY

(in thous . kw.)

Ukraine

water power 434 558Kashira Moscow

lignite I86 186Gorgres Gorky

peat 204 204Shterovka Ukraine (Donbas) anthracite slack 15z 152Zuevka Ukraine (Donbas) anthracite slack ISO 250Shatura Moscow

peat 18o 180Red October

Red Star

Leningrad

peatBaku,

III

log

III

133Azerbaidzhan

crude oil

Moges I Moscow

crude oil 119 .5 119Cheliabinsk Ural

lignite 126 250Berezniki a Ural

lignite 93 93Stalingrad Lower Volga

anthracite slack 75 250

Ivgres Ivanovo

Industrial

peat 99 123Shakhti North Caucasus

(Donbas)

anthracite slack 9o 95Volkhov Leningrad

water power 58 58Magnitogorsk a Ural

low-grade coal 104 198Kuznetz a West Siberia

low-grade coal 84 108Kizel Ural

lignite 74 I00Rionges Georgia

water power 48 48Kemerovo West Siberia

coke-oven gas 48 148Dzherzhinski Ukraine

coal 48 96Svir Leningrad

water-power 72 96Stalinogorsk Moscow

coal 5o 400

202


fuel requiring long-distance transport : approximately 40 percent coal, partly from the Donetz Basin and partly importedfrom Great Britain, and 6o per cent Caucasian oil . Evenin 1927 such high-grade fuel constituted 61 per cent ofthe total fuel used by power plants . By 1932, however,the situation had been reversed : high-grade fuel made up only36 per cent of the total ; local fuel (peat, low-grade coal, etc .)-55 .6 per cent ; and water power-8 .4 per cent. Dnieprogesstarted operations only toward the end of 1932, and its effectin sharply increasing the proportion of water power will bereflected in the figures for later years . In 1933, water powerand local fuels accounted for 76 .8 per cent of the total fuelconsumed in regional stations .

Dnieproges is the largest hydroelectric station in the world,its ultimate capacity being 558,000 kw. and its annual output2.7 billion kw .-h. Col. Hugh L. Cooper, builder of the MuscleShoals plant, was chief consulting engineer . The machinery andequipment used in constructing this plant was purchased almostentirely in the United States . The permanent plant machinery(electric generators and hydraulic turbines) installed in thepower station is the largest of its kind yet manufactured. Allof the nine turbines were supplied by the Newport News Ship-building and Drydock Company and five of the generators bythe General Electric Company. The remaining four genera-tors were furnished by the "Electrosila" plant in Leningrad .The power plant is located on the Lower Dnieper, about 200miles north of Odessa, in the center of a vast mining, industrialand agricultural area . In addition to supplying mines and in-dustries with cheap electric power (about Y4 cent per kw .-h .)the dam, with its collateral works, has opened the DnieperRiver to navigation along practically its entire length, and itsseasonal surplus of power will be utilized for the irrigation ofthe adjoining steppes.

INDUSTRY

203

Prior to the erection of Dnieproges the Volkhov hydro-electric station (58,ooo kw . installed capacity) had been builtnear Leningrad. During the first Five-Year Plan a number ofother hydroelectric stations were constructed . Among thosewhich started operations in 1932 or 1933 are : Svir (near Lenin-grad)-ultimate capacity, 96,ooo kw . ; Niva River (6o,oookw.) ; Rionges (Georgia)-48,000 kw . ; Zages (Georgia)-37,000 kw . ; Dzorages (Armenia)-22,000 kw . A num-ber of others are at present under construction, of whichthe largest are : three stations on the Upper Volga-Kama(near Perm), 31o,ooo kw. ; Vasilev (near Gorky), 200,000kw . ; and Yaroslavl, 100,000 kw .-the construction of whichis under the supervision of A . V. Winter, the chief Sovietengineer at Dnieprostroy ; the Chirchik plant in Central Asia,170,000 kw .; and the Niva No . 2 plant (on the Kola penin-sula), 92,000 kw. Preliminary work on the Lower Volgaproject is also under way . This project calls for the erection ofa hydroelectric station at Kamyshin, with a capacity of from1 .8 to 2.0 million kw ., and an annual output of from 10to 12 billion kw.-h ., about four times as large as Dnieproges .This plant will serve not only to generate electric power butto irrigate an area of over 4 million hectares of land in thetrans-Volga section and to improve river transport on thisgreat central artery . Both the Upper Volga and the LowerVolga projects are scheduled for partial completion during theperiod of the second Five-Year Plan .

An even more extensive project is that of Angara-Yeniseiin East Siberia. Here it is proposed to construct during the courseof the next 1 o or 15 years several hydroelectric stations, thecombined capacity of which will far outstrip that of the Volgaor any other similar project in the U .S.S.R. The Asiatic partof the Soviet Union possesses approximately 165 million kw .of water power, over three-fourths of the total water power

204


resources of the country, which is available for this develop-ment .

Another principle of the electrification program-the unit-ing of the principal power plants by means of inter-connectinghigh-voltage networks-has been only partially put into effect,i.e., only in certain important industrial sections of EuropeanRussia-Central, Leningrad, Donetz, Dnieper and Ural . Theextension of such networks to include the Ural-Kuznetz terri-tory of the Asiatic part of the country is part of the programprojected for the second Five-Year Plan . However, consider-able progress was made during the course of the first five-yearperiod. By January x, 1933, the total length of transmissionlines had reached 10,200 km. of which 5,300 had a voltageof I I5,ooo and over, including 200 km. of 165,000 voltagefrom the Dnieper hydroelectric plant . In 1928 there wereonly 3,000 km. of lines having a voltage of 22,000 or over,while in 1913 the total length of transmission lines did notexceed 100 km. During 1933 and 1934 the total length oftransmission lines was increased by over 2,000 km., includingthe Svir-Leningrad line (240 km. long) of 220,000 voltage .On January 1, 1935, the total length of high-voltage linesrose to 12,207 kilometers .

The realization of the principles of centralized supply andplanned regulation of consumption of electric power has re-sulted in marked success in the intensive exploitation of thecapacity of the power plants . During the four years 1929-1932 the rate of operation averaged 3,750 hours annually .The more developed networks of the Soviet Union showed astill higher utilization . Thus, in 1932 the Moscow networkrecorded 4,560 operating hours ; the Leningrad network 4,770 .In 1934, the stations of Glavenergo (State Power Board)which produced 65.6 per cent of all the electric energy outputin that year, recorded an average of 4,000 operating hours .

INDUSTRY 205

The consumption of electric power by industry in 1 933was more than triple that of 1928. Machine tools in new en-terprises are practically all run by electric power, for the mostpart individual drive . In the reconstruction of old enterpriseselectric drive has been substituted for mechanical . As a resultthe proportion of electric power to total energy consumed inindustry for mechanical needs rose from 51 per cent in 1928to 77 per cent in 1933 . The electrification of industry hasmade possible the mechanization of numerous labor-absorbingprocesses in the coal, steel and other industries .

The last two years of the first Five-Year Plan period-1931 and 1932-witnessed an intensive development of cen-tral heat and power systems. The total capacity of such plantsrose from 55,000 kw. in 1928 to 720,000 kw . in 1933 . TheBerezniky central heat and power station has a capacity of93,000 kw. and a pressure of 6o atmospheres. By the endof 1934, there were in operation 65 central thermo-electricpower plants with a total capacity of 870,000 kw . The lengthof pipe lines increased to 200 km . as compared with 15o km.in the previous year. The development of these stations duringthe past five years is shown in the following table :

megacalories)

1 .5

3.5

5.5

8.o

10 .0

The second Five-Year Plan has made provision for espe-cially large expansion of this type of power plant . Centralheating is to be extended not only to industrial plants but tomunicipal buildings, urban dwellings and eventually to therural districts. These stations are to range in capacity up to15o,ooo kw. The total capacity of central heating plants is

1930 1931 1932 1933 1934Capacity (at the end of

year, in t hous. kw .) 210 310 580 720 870Length of pipe-lines

(in kilometers) 45 70 100 150 200Output (in million

zo6


scheduled to rise to 2,769,500 kw. The length of pipe linesof the regional stations alone, is to increase to 480 km. ascompared with 6o km. in 1932, while the output of allcentral heating stations is planned to total 20 million mega-calories as against 5 .5 million in 1932 .

During the second Five-Year Plan period power develop-ment is scheduled to continue along the lines outlined above,and, in addition, the electrification of agriculture and transpor-tation, which has proceeded at a slower rate than that of indus-try, is to be more widely extended . To achieve the resultsdesired, it is estimated that it will be necessary by 1937 to in-crease the capacity of all power plants from 4 .7 to 10.9 millionkw., and output to not less than 38 billion kw.-h. Of this totalabout two-thirds will go for industry and the balance for trans-portation, agriculture, municipal economy, dwellings and do-mestic needs. The length of the transmission network of theregional stations is planned to increase to 26,250 km .

This development will make the U .S.S.R. second only to theUnited States as a power producer. Capacity is to be increasedby 132 per cent and output by 183 per cent during the five-year period . By 1937 regional plants are to account for three-fourths of the total power output . There will be constructed79 regional stations as well as a number of large factory andmunicipal stations. A number of these were begun duringthe years of the first Five-Year Plan . Of the seventy-nine,71 are scheduled to attain their full capacity on or beforeJanuary 1, 1938. Total consumption of power by industryis scheduled to rise to 26 .4 million kw.-h., three times the1932 figures .

The longest high voltage line in the Union will be con-structed in the Ukraine, connecting the Donetz Basin with theDnieper district. The current will be of 220 kilovolts, and thesystem will have a capacity of 2 .0 million kw . and an annual

INDUSTRY

207

output of 8.53 billion kw.-h. Several large new stations willtie in to the Ukraine net and existing stations will be greatlyextended . The stations in the entire section from Odessa toStalingrad will be inter-connected .

Another large electrical network will encompass the Moscowdistrict and reach as far as Kazan . Several new stations willincrease the output of the Moscow distributing system to twicethat of 1932 . High tension lines will connect Moscow withthe Ivanovo and Gorky districts, this network to have a capacityof 1 .4 million kw. and an output of 5 .2 billion kw.-h. Thesepower systems will be among the largest in the world .

Power development will be especially intensive in the easternsections of the country . By 1937 these regions are to accountfor 20 per cent of all the power produced in the U.S.S.R ., ascompared with 6.5 per cent in 1932 . This expansion is re-quired to supply the new industrial centers in the Urals,Western and Eastern Siberia, Kazakstan, Central Asia and theFar East. The united Urals system will have a capacity of1 .3 million kw . with an output of 5 .o billion kw.-h .

A large amount of new construction is proposed in CentralAsia, where during the first Five-Year Plan not a singleregional station was erected. The power output of CentralAsia will be developed to 256,000 kw . as compared with 6,700in 1932 . Transcaucasia is also being rapidly developed .

BY 1937 the majority of the stations in the Soviet Union,both old and new, will operate on local fuel or water power,in the proportions of 6o and 20 per cent, respectively . A con-siderable saving on fuel and transportation will thus be effected .

ELECTROTECHNICAL INDUSTRY

The great increase in production and consumption of elec-trical current necessitated a corresponding expansion in theoutput of electrical machinery and apparatus . The achieve-

zo8


ments in this field have been noteworthy. Before the war whatsmall factories Russia possessed manufactured only the sim-plest apparatus . All complex electrical machinery and equip-ment was imported. The output of 1913 was exceeded by thatof 1925-26, tripled by that of 1928 and in 1932 productionattained a value fourteen times the pre-war figure . The pro-duction program of the first Five-Year Plan was fulfilled intwo and a half years and exceeded by 36 per cent in fouryears.

Annual production figures are given in the following table :

(in mill . rubles, 7926-27 prices)

Almost half of the output of the Soviet electrotechnicalindustry now consists of equipment for power plants . Fromthe first turbogenerators of an average power of 1,300 kw . in1924 the industry passed in i 930 to the manufacture of 24 ;ooo-kw ., in 1931 to 50,000-kw ., and in 1932 to 62,000-kw .hydraulic turbogenerators. The latter have been produced atthe "Electrosila" plant in Leningrad for the Dnieper powerplant. The Kharkov turbogenerator plant, which began opera-tions in 1933, is equipped with machine-tools and cranes capableof producing and handling generators of from 50,000 to200,000 kw. Its annual capacity is 1 .5 million kw. The Uralelectrical apparatus works, construction of which was started in1933, will produce equipment for the high-voltage branch ofthe electro-technical industry. In 1933 erection was begunalso of the Kashira works (near Moscow) which will have acapacity of 300 trunk-line electric locomotives annually .

1913 86 .o 1925-26 98 .81920 5 .8 1926-z7 131 .41921 9 .7 1928 239 .31922 19 .2 1929 339 .31922-23 29.0 1930 589 .61923-24 37.8 1931 1,014.11924-25 72 .0 1932 1,218.3

INDUSTRY

The growth in output of power plant equipment and elec-trical apparatus during the past few years is shown in thefollowing table :

209

In 1934, production of steam turbines rose by 15 per cent,of hydro-turbines by 68 per cent, of Diesel engines by 46 percent. Production of power machinery and equipment amountedto 1,019 million rubles in 1934, as compared with 885 ml1-lion in 1933 (a gain of 15 per cent), and 814 million in 1932 .Output of the low-tension branch of the electro-technical in-dustry totaled 398 million rubles in 1934, as compared with324 million in the previous year and 268 million in 1932 .Production of consumers' goods (electric lamps, appliances,etc.), in 1934 almost doubled, totaling 93,681,000 rubles ascompared with 48,770,000 rubles in 1933- $y the end of

ITEM

UNIT 1927-28 1929 - 30 1932 1933Steam boilers

thous . sq . meters 87 .1 164.3 163 .3 197 .3Prime Movers

Steam turbines

thous. kilowatts 35 .7 24.1 239 .0 634 .5Hydro turbines

"

" 12.0 31 .9 59 .5 52 .9Steam engines

" horsepower 4.15 11 .05 31 .6 27 .7Diesel engines

"

" 38.9 1 03 .4 95 .1 90 . 2Other oil "

"

" 58.8 154 .8 116 .5 133 .1Locomobiles

"

" 14.6 27.3 35 .45 26 .9

Electric Power EquipmentTurbo-generators

thous . kilowatts 75 .4 187 .0 8z6 .o 385 .0Hydro- "

"

" 259.0 201 .5Other

" (A.C.)

"

" 17.6 42 .0 79 .3 150 .0Direct current machines

" 40.2 95 .4 151 .0 114 .0A .C . motors

"

" 25F ,6 632 .6 i,658 .o 1,385 .0Power transformers

" kva . 403 . 2 1,525 .3 3,426 .0 3,330 .0Oil circuit-breakers

pieces ,,8,z 7,046 11,592 io,185Motor-generators

thous . kilowatts 2 .9 2.0 32 .8 37 .7Mercury rectifiers

"

" 1.3 20 .2 91 .1 105 .1Electrical equipment

for autos andtractors

million rubles o .8 17 .3 55.8High-tension cable

kilometers 2,776 3,648 5,736 6,196

210


1 933, 16 per cent of the boiler and 2o per cent of the turbo-generator capacity in regional power plants was made up ofSoviet-built equipment, as against four and 3 .7 per cent in1930 .

The total power of the generators produced in the U .S .S.R .in 1932 amounted to over one million kw . In the year 1928the "Electrozavod" factory in Moscow produced transform-ers of ioo kva. capacity ; in 1931 of 20,000 kva. andfor a tension up to 150,000 volts; and in 1932 similar trans-formers for 220,000-volt transmission lines . Other equipmentnow manufactured includes : rotors for turbines of 50,000 kw.and up; condensers; high-pressure boilers ; high-voltage cables,including cable of 380,000 volts ; interurban telephone cables ;motors of all kinds, including some of from 3,000 to 6,ooovolts ; electric furnaces and blooming mills ; electric weldingapparatus ; electric locomotives and equipment for electric rail-ways ; electric plows and harvesters ; electric pumps ; electricmining equipment; automatic telephone stations and other tele-phone apparatus ; storage batteries, magnetos, spark plugs, anda great variety of other electrical apparatus and equipment,including many household articles .

Despite the increase in domestic manufacture, the demandfor electrical equipment exceeded production and large quanti-ties had to be imported . Such imports totaled 48 .8 million rublesin 1 930, 53 .4 million rubles in 1931, and 64 .9 million rublesin 1932 . Of these totals the United States supplied 12 .2, 12.7and 4.8 million rubles, respectively. The bulk of the importsfrom the United States have been made up of power-plantequipment. In 1933 total imports were reduced to 19 .4 millionrubles and those from this country to 1 .04 million rubles.

A number of technical assistance contracts have been madewith American companies or individual experts for assistancein the erection of the new power plants and in the manufacture

INDUSTRY

211

of electrical apparatus. Chief among these are : Col. Hugh L .Cooper, Dnieper River hydroelectric power plant ; Interna-tional General Electric Company, general technical assistanceand exchange of patents ; Newport News Shipbuilding andDrydock Co., technical assistance in the construction of tur-bines ; Electric Auto-lite Company, technical assistance in theproduction of electrical equipment for automobiles and tractors .

The second Five-Year Plan calls for a several-fold increasein practically all branches of the electrical industry . Capitalinvestments in excess of 6oo million rubles are contemplatedduring the period, the bulk of which will go for the construc-tion of a number of huge plants . The output of turbines isscheduled to be increased to 1 .4 million kilowatts by 1937, ofinternal combustion engines to 2 .6 million kw. and of gener-ators to 1 .4 million kw .

VIII

AGRICULTURE

As a result of the land redistribution following the revolu-tion in 1917, whereby formerly landless peasants were en-abled to obtain land, and the growing number of peasantfamilies, the number of individual peasant farms increasedfrom 15 million in 1913 to 25 million in 1927 . In 1928small individual peasant farms, averaging only 4 .5 hectares, 1still made up 97 .3 per cent of the total sown area .Many of these farms were split up into a number of narrowstrips often located at a considerable distance one from an-other, an old Russian system making the use of modern agri-cultural machinery and methods impossible . As late as 1928one-third of the peasants still cultivated their fields withwooden plows, and three-fourths of the sowing and nearlyhalf of the harvesting and threshing was done by hand . Suchantiquated methods naturally resulted in a low level of produc-tion and in an entirely insufficient amount of marketable sur-plus of grain and agricultural raw materials . Despite the factthat the land holdings of the poor peasantry had been at leastdoubled in size and that the peasants consumed much more oftheir own products than before the war,' the primitive toolsand methods employed made it impossible for the peasants toraise their standard of living to any appreciable extent .

The limitations of small-scale production were especiallypatent as regards marketable output . Although the total outputof agricultural products steadily increased and by 1929

1 I hectare = 2 .47 acres .2 Prewar Russia, a big exporter of wheat, occupied one of the lowest ranks as regards

per capita wheat consumption .

212

AGRICULTURE

2 13

amounted to over 94 per cent of the prewar level, the amountof marketable output, i .e ., that available for consumption out-side the villages, was less than the demand . This was attrib-uted to increased consumption by the peasants themselves and tothe breaking up of the large estates which before the revolu-tion supplied a large part of the marketable surplus of agricul-ture. The marketable output of grain in the years 1927-1929,when total output already amounted to over 9o per cent of theprewar level, was less than half the prewar figure . The resultwas that the rapidly growing cities and industrial centers wereinadequately supplied with grain, and exports were down to1 /3 per cent of the prewar total . The situation as regards in-dustrial crops was much better, both total yield and marketableoutput exceeding the prewar level . Nevertheless, the supplywas quite inadequate to fill the needs of industry, which duringthis period was registering an annual increase in productionranging from 20 to 30 per cent.

The disparity between the limited possibilities of small-scaleagriculture, on the one hand, and the demands made upon itby the rapidly growing large-scale industry, on the other, madeit necessary to speed up the reconstruction of agriculture . Conse-quently, the first Five-Year Plan included a program for thefundamental reorganization of agriculture .

The Five-Year Plan program provided for a considerabledevelopment of state and collective farms, involving the ex-tensive use of modern agricultural machinery and scientificmethods of farming . According to the Plan, by the end of thefive-year period the sown area of state farms was to total 4 .4million hectares and that of collective farms 14 .5 million hec-tares, their combined area to constitute 13 .3 per cent of thetotal sown area. Together they were to supply 43 per cent ofthe marketable grain . The actual results greatly exceeded theseschedules. By 1930 the full five-year program for collective

214


farms was considerably exceeded in all respects, while thatfor state farms was closely approximated. By I933-insteadof one-eighth of the sown area, as scheduled for 1 93 2-33-state and collective farms accounted for over 83 per cent ofthe total. Instead of 43 per cent of the marketable grain sched-uled for 1932-33, these farms in 1933 supplied more than 89per cent of the total . They produce about go per cent of thecountry's wheat, cotton and sugar beets and about 8o per centof the total production of flax fiber . By 1933 they accounted for37 per cent of the meat, 6o per cent of the butter and milk,and 56 per cent of the wool delivered to the state .

Expansion o f Sown 1 rea

In connection with the process of collectivization andmechanization of agriculture, an increase in sown area of 21 .4million hectares was recorded during the first Five-Year Planperiod. The sown area in 1932 totaled 134.4 million hectares,as compared with 113.0 million in 1928 and 105 .0 millionhectares in 1913 . Of the total increase over 1928, 15 millionhectares, or 70 per cent, was attained by the addition of newareas in the southern and eastern regions . State farms ac-counted for 11.7 million hectares, over half of the total .The increase in the sown area by crops is shown in the tablebelow

INCREASE 1932 OVER 1928(in mill.

Per cent ofhectares)

(in per cent) total increase

CROP

Grain 7.5 8 .2 35 .2Wheat 6 .9 24.9 32.2

Industrial crops 6 .3 72.7 29. 3Cotton I .2 123 .8 5 .6

Sugar beets o .8 1o8.5 3 .8

Long-fibre flax 1 .1 84.0 5 .3Vegetables and melons 1 .5 19 .9 7 . 1Forage crops 6 .1 135 .1 28 .4

Total 21 .4 18 .9 100 .0

AGRICULTURE

215

As a result of the large increase in grain area (a gain of

7.5 million hectares), and the improvement in organization ofproduction on large state and collective farms equipped withmodern machinery, the government considers that the grainproblem is practically solved . Wheat now constitutes one-thirdof the total grain area . Progress has been made in sowingwheat in the more northerly sections of the country .

The area under industrial crops increased by 6 .3 millionhectares, or 72 .7 per cent, during the first Five-Year Planperiod. Over half of the new area is accounted for by thestandard crops (cotton, flax, hemp and sugar beets) and theremainder by new crops (soy beans, tea, new fiber crops,medicinal herbs, etc .) The area sown to sugar beets and tocotton was more than doubled. The Soviet Union is one ofthe leading countries of the world as regards sugar-beetproduction . The major sugar-beet regions are the Ukraineand the Black Soil region .

The increase in the area sown to cotton was the resultboth of expansion of cultivation in the old cotton-growingdistricts, Central Asia, Kazakstan and Transcaucasia, whichaccount for over two-thirds of the total acreage, and ofdevelopment of new cotton districts in the Ukraine, Crimea,North Caucasus, etc . Expansion of cotton cultivation in olddistricts has been facilitated by extensive construction andreconstruction of irrigation works and by completion ini 930 of the Turkestan-Siberian Railroad . This railroad, bybringing Siberian grain to Kazakstan and Central Asia, hasmade it possible to restrict the area under grain in these sec-tions and expand the cotton area. In the five years from 1928to 1933 the irrigated area, principally in the cotton regions, wasincreased by 1 .5 million hectares, bringing it to a total of 5 .7million hectares .

The extension of the area under cotton to over two million

216


hectares and of that under long-fiber flax to over 2.5 millionhectares, together with the mechanization of their cultivationand harvesting and the growing of new fiber crops, has resultedin an enlargement of the domestic raw-material supply of thetextile industry . Cotton imports, which before the war reached200,000 tons and in 1928 amounted to about 144,000 tons,dropped to a total of 22,000 tons in 1933 . From 1924 to1930, inclusive, the Soviet Union purchased a total of $263,-

ooo,ooo worth of cotton from the United States alone, anaverage of over $37,000,000 a year .

The increase in the area sown to vegetables, from 8oo,ooo

hectares in 1928-29 to 2,319,000 hectares in 1933, has beenan important factor in improving the food supply of the cities .In addition, an area of 5,602,000 hectares was sown to pota-toes and 700,000 hectares to melons in 1933 . While thesetotals were smaller than in the preceding year, the decrease inarea was largely compensated for by an increased yield perhectare . .An especially large expansion of area has taken placein the suburban districts, where the consumers' co-operativesalone had 466,800 hectares of garden truck in 1932. Of thetotal vegetable area in 1932 state and collective farms ac-counted for 62 per cent. The marketable output of vegetablesand melons totaled 4.2 million tons and of potatoes almost 9million tons .

The area sown to the principal crops in 1932, as comparedwith 1928 and 1913, is given in the table below :

1913 -1928-~ r -1932--~TOTAL TOTAL SHARE SOWN BY TOTAL SHARE SOWN BYAREA AREA STATE COLLEC- AREA STATE COLLEC-

SOWN

SOWN FARMS TIVE FARMS SOWN FARMS TIVE FARMS(mill . hectares) (Per cant) (mill . ha.) (Per Cow)

Total 105 .00 112 .99 1 .5 1 .2 134 .43 10 .0 68 .1

Grain 94 .36 92 .17 1 .2 1 .1 99 .71 9 .3 69 .3Wheat 3t .65 27 .73 1 .3 r .6 34 .63 12 .7 77 .9

Industrial crops 4 .55 8 .62 3 .7 1 .9 14 .88 6 .5 76 .3Cotton 0 .69 0 .97 1 .5 1 .8 2 .17 6 .9 65 .8Flax, long-fiber - 1 .36 0 .3 0 .7 2 .51 2 .0 63 .3

Sugar beets o .65 0 .77 26 .o 1 .6 1 .54 13 .0 72 .1

AGRICULTURE

217

Further large expansion of the sown area is considered un-necessary for the present, emphasis now being laid upon in-creasing the yield. The results of the sowing and harvestingcampaigns in 1933 and 1934, the first two years of the secondFive-Year Plan, have seemed to justify this course . Whilethe area sown, 129.7 million hectares in the former and 130.2million in the latter year, was slightly below that of 1932,much greater care was taken in carrying out the work accord-ing to the best agricultural practice . In 1934 state and collec-tive farms accounted for 86 .4 per cent of the total sown area,as against 83.2 per cent in 1933 . Of the total area in 1 934,grain crops made up 103.5 million hectares, industrial crops1o.6 million, potatoes 6.1 million, melons and vegetables 2 .7million and feed crops 7.1 million .

State FarmsThe organization of state farms (i .e ., state-operated farms

employing hired labor) was begun in 1918, almost immediatelyafter the establishment of the Soviet regime . For the first tenyears, however, these state farms were comparatively few innumber and small in size . Only in 1928 was the organizationof large state farms undertaken on a broad scale . The first tobe organized were the state grain farms . Soon thereafter therewere organized farms devoted to other branches of agriculture .These were grouped, according to their specialization, intolarge combinations or trusts, such as the Grain, Sugar, Cotton,Sheep-breeding and Cattle-breeding Trusts .

During the period of the first Five-Year Plan (1928-1932) the number of state farms rose from 3,125 to 10,200,and their total area increased from approximately 4,000,000 toover 82,000,000 hectares, an area double the territory of Po-land and exceeding that of France and Germany by 5o and

75 per cent, respectively. Their sown area increased from i,-735,000 to 13,500,000 hectares, including 9,300,000 hectares

218


under grain . This is about three times the sown area set for

1932-33 by the Plan, and equal to the entire arable area ofItaly or Rumania. The extension in sown area was accountedfor almost entirely by virgin soil ; over half of the total increasewas in the grain regions of the South . The number of tractorsemployed by the state farms mounted to nearly 64,000, andthe number of workers to over 2 million. The extent of draftpower per worker rose from 0.14 hp. in 1928 to o.58 hp. in1932, resulting in a considerable increase in labor productivity .The harvested area per worker increased from 3 to 7 hectaresduring the four-year period.

Additional development of state farms was reported in 1 933and 1934 . The sown area increased to 15,o26,ooo hectares,an increase of eleven per cent over 1932 . The number oftractors rose to 99,000 (an increase of 55 per cent) with atotal horsepower of 1,714,000 . The amount of grain deliveredto the state in 1933 totaled 1.4 million tons, an increase of 16per cent over 1932 . The higher yield was due in large meas-ure to improved quality of work ; weeds were extensively de-stroyed before plowing and most of the land was ploweddeeply.

Considerable progress has also been recorded in the develop-ment of stock-breeding on state farms . About 2,000 state live-stock farms have been organized. By -the spring of 1934 theherds of the sovkhozi embraced about 4.4 million head ofcattle, 8.6 million head of sheep and goats, and 4.2 millionhead of swine .' The network of state grain and livestock farms

a These totals, as well as the other data in the table following, include farms operatedby cooperatives and by the food supply departments of industrial enterprises . In recentyears these farms have played an increasingly important part in supplementing the suppliesof meat, dairy products and vegetables furnished to the city population by the peasant farmsand the regular commercial state farms . The generic term for all these farms employinghired labor (in contrast to the collectives or individual peasant farms) is sovkhozi (Sovietfarms) . Other livestock of revkhozi at the end of 1933 Included 1 .5 million poultry and1 .2 million rabbits.

4 1929 .

AGRICULTURE

219

became so extensive that a special commissariat was organizedin October, 1932, to supervise their work . The 15-monthschedule (October i, 1932-January 1, 1934) for meat pro-curements was on the whole carried out by the state livestockfarms, which delivered to the state during this period a totalof 229,330 tons, nearly double the amount delivered duringthe preceding 15-month period (130,000 tons) . Milk procure-ments from state farms likewise registered a considerable in-crease, reaching 28,700 tons (in terms of butter fat) in 1 933,as compared to 23,300 in 1932 . Procurements of goats' milkcheese totaled 2,800 tons as against 2,900 in 1932 . In 1 934meat deliveries to the state by state farms totaled 241,700 tonsas compared with 129,000 tons in 1933 ; butter deliveries roseto 32,000 tons, compared with 27,500, and wool, to 9,700tons as compared with 9,200 in the previous year .

The following table sets forth the main points in state farmdevelopment during the years 1928-1934 (including also thefarms operated by cooperatives and by workers' supply depart-ments of industrial enterprises)

1928 1930 1932 1933 1934A . Number of state farms

Total

3,125 4,870 10,203 10,510 -Large trustified

1,407 z,86z 4,523 4,742 -B. Area, total (thous. ha.) 4,000 40,000 8z,ooo - -

Sown area

1,735 4,926 1 3,557 14,107 15,oz6Per cent of total 1 .5 3 .6 10 .0 10 .9 11 .4Grain

1,096 2,924 9,244 10,845 11,6o8C. Grain delivered to state (thous .

470 .7 1,204 1,400 -tons)

50.2 4D . Livestock (thous. head in spring

of year)Cattle 180 741 3,526 3,762 4,435Cows 6o 306 1,716 1,698 1,823Sheep and goats 747 2,754 7,221 7725 8,595Hogs 59 '9o 1,928 2,559 4,192

220


5 For workers on state farms and at machine-tractor stations .

The average area of the state grain farms in 1932 was56,ooo hectares and the average sown area 25,000 hectares .The largest grain farms-from 50,000 to 100,000 hectares-proved to be unwieldy, and are now being reorganized intofarms of 15,000 to 25,000 hectares. State cattle ranchesranging in size from 100,000 to 800,000 hectares, whichwere first organized in 1930, now extend over the prairielands of Kazakstan, Siberia, and, to a lesser extent, of theLower and Middle Volga Regions.

In organizing and operating such enterprises many prob-lems and difficulties arose, such as those involved in devisingthe best methods and forms of carrying on large-scale farm-ing, training capable managers, training the greatly increasednumber of workers on state farms, most of whom had prac-tically no knowledge of modern agricultural machinery, etc .Progress in solving these problems has been reported by thegovernment agencies.

The government decree, of December 22, 1933, orderingthe breaking up of the larger state grain farms provided that70 of the existing farms be reorganized during 1934 and theremainder during 1935 . The farms are being divided intounits of not more than 2,000 to 2,500 hectares and the inclu-sion in a single farm of separate plots of land not easily ac-

1928 1930 1932 1933 1934E . Tractor supply

24653 63,957 8z,661 98,947Number of tractors

(at end of year)

6,719Capacity (thous. hp .) 77.6 444.6 1,043 1,395 1,714Mechanized traction

(in per cent of total) 51 .7 - 67 .0 - -F. Labor

No. of workers (thous.) 316.8 724.0 2,030.5 2,176.2 -Wages, aver. annual s 327 .4 543 .0 902 .8 - -

G. Basic capital (mill . rubles,1926-z7 prices) 301 566 2,88o 3,767 4,484

AGRICULTURE

221

cessible from a central point is to be avoided . In order to makebetter use of products otherwise largely wasted, as well as hayand pasture facilities, subsidiary sections are to be organizedfor the raising of cattle, sheep, hogs and poultry. Special meas-ures are to be taken to provide a permanent supply of skilledworkers and specialists, including the granting of loans to en-courage building of houses by individuals and for the purchaseof livestock for personal use .

Collective farmsCollective farms differ from state farms in that they are not

state-operated enterprises, but consolidations of individual hold-ings jointly operated by the peasants . There are three maintypes of collective farms :

i . Associations for the joint tillage o f land-means of pro-duction not socialized ; land cultivated by joint labor of mem-bers of associations .

2 . 4rtels-all basic means of production (land, labor, ma-chinery and implements, work animals, farm buildings) so-cialized ; dwellings, livestock for domestic use, land adjoininghomes (small garden and vegetable plots), and personal be-longings not socialized .

3 . Communes-all means of production, also distribution,socialized ; only articles for personal use remain individualproperty.

The peasant associations, the most primitive type, made up6o per cent of the total in 1928, but have since been replacedfor the most part by the artels . The latter have become thebasic form of collective farms, by 1932 constituting 92 percent of the total, while peasant associations and communes ac-counted for only about four per cent each . The transition tothe artel form meant the bringing together of the small, scat-tered strips of land into one large tract, and the socialization ofthe buildings, machinery, tools and horses utilized for its cul-

222


tivation . Only in case the collective decided to specialize insome branch of commercial livestock enterprise were the mem-bers to contribute a portion of their livestock to the collectiveherd. In any case each household was expected to retain a milkcow or two and as many pigs, sheep, chickens, rabbits, etc ., asdesired for home consumption .

The collectivization campaign suffered a temporary setbackin 1930 as a result of too rapid development . Thereafter, col-lectivization proceeded more slowly but the number of peasantsenrolled in collectives grew steadily . The percentage of thetotal number of peasant families in collectives, which was 3 . 9in 1929 and in 193o had grown to 23 .6, reached 52 .7 in1931, 61 .5 in 1932, and 71 .4 at the middle of 1934 .

In 1934, the number of collective farms rose to 240,000,a gain of 15,500 over the previous year. Their sown areaembraced 9o per cent of the area sown by peasants and col-lectives and 75 per cent of the entire sown area of the country .Of the total grain output in 1934, collective farms accountedfor 77 per cent. Collective livestock and dairy farms totaled194,000 on December 31, 1934, increasing by 62,000 dur-ing the year, while the number of livestock on these farmsrose to 21 million head.

The chief factor in raising productivity and, consequently,income on the collective farms was the mechanization of pro-duction made possible by the larger units and the aid renderedby the state-operated machine-tractor stations. The latter pro-vide the collectives with tractor and machinery service andagronomical and organizational guidance in return for a shareof the crop. They have played a leading role in the reconstruc-tion of agriculture along the lines of machine techniqueand scientific farming. The number of these stations increasedfrom 158 in the spring of 1930 to 2,100 in the spring of1932, 2,650 in the spring of 1933 and close to Moo by the

AGRICULTURE 223

end of 1934 . According to the first Five-Year Plan, the ma-chine-tractor stations were to embrace a sown area of threemillion hectares within five years and an area of 25 millionhectares within ten . But as early as 1931 they sowed an area of29 million hectares and in 1933 of 55 .4 million hectares, or58 per cent of the total area sown by collectives . They ac-counted for 57 per cent of the grain area sown by the collec-tives, 96 per cent of the cotton area and 9o per cent of thesugar-beet area. During the spring sowing of 1934, the ma-chine-tractor stations sowed 44 .4 million hectares, nearly two-thirds of the total area sown by collectives .

Slightly over half of the stations serve collective farms in thegrain regions, from 200 to 30o each are established in the cot-ton, flax and sugar-beet districts, and the remainder in districtsdevoted to the raising of hemp, tobacco, rice, fruits and vege-tables, etc. Over one-third of the collective farms are nowserved by machine-tractor stations, which operated almost 4,000repair shops by the end of 1933 .

The progress recorded by collective farms during the pastsix years is summarized in the table below (figures as ofJune i) :

A .1928

Number of collective forms1932

217 .1

14 .961 .5

1933

224 .515 .265 .o

1934

233 .3-71 .4

(thous .)Number of peasant households

collectivized (mill .)Per cent of total

33 .3

0 .41 .7

B . Sown area (thous . ha .)

1,370 91,579 93 .858 98,550Per cent of total sown area

1.2 68., 72 .4 75 .0Average sown area per

collective farm

42 .0 434 .0 418 .0 422 .4C . State procurements or quotas

Per cent of total grain deliveriesby peasantry

3 .3 77 .3 88 .7 -Per cent of total cotton deliveries

x .86 78 .6 90 .0 -D . Livestock in commercial dairy and

5,305 5,550 6,6o8livestock collective farms (in thous. head)

Cattle

152Hogs

45 2,369 2,500 2,930Sheep and Coats

223 5,445 6,342 9,844Poultry

- 3,630 3,250 -


s As of October 1, 1928, on collective farms .7 As of January 1 of the following year .8 As of January 1 of each year.

About the middle of 1931, when thirteen million peasanthouseholds, or over half of the total, had joined the collectivefarms, emphasis was shifted from the task of attracting addi-tional peasants into the collectives to that of strengthening theinternal organization of the collective farms already estab-lished. The piece-work system of remuneration, laid down as ageneral principle in the "model statutes" adopted in 1930, wasnot put into practice on the majority of farms until 1931 . Ac-cording to this system, farm work is divided into a number ofcategories (now set at seven), a norm of work per day (quan-tity and quality) is set for each category, and a valuation ofthis norm in so-called "labor-days" is established, rangingfrom one-half a labor-day for the least skilled work to two ormore labor-days for the highest skilled. In carrying out thework the members of a collective farm are divided into a num-ber of so-called "brigades," each assigned a definite parcel ofland and a definite production program . At the end of the yearthe crop-after state assessments and special funds for seed,fodder, social and cultural work, etc ., have been set aside-isdivided among the collective farm members in accordance withthe number of "labor-days" credited to each .

Another measure designed to stimulate the peasants to in-creased efforts was the inauguration, early in 1933, of a systemof fixed quotas instead of state procurements of grain anddairy products . Under this new system the peasants know in

1928 1932 1933 1934Rabbits - 1,040 1,366 -

E . Tractor supply (of collectives andmachine-tractor stations)

Number of tractors 20,7 1 4 6 84,500 7 127,700 7 179,500 7Capacity (thous. hp.) 20 0.5 6 1,182 .0 7 1,809 .9 7 2,746.2 7

F . Basic capital (mill . rubles,1926-27 prices) a 79 6 ,478 6,309 6,614

AGRICULTURE 225

advance exactly what proportion of their total grain, dairy andother produce must be delivered to the state at fixed prices .The better the crop the greater the surplus of products remain-ing for their own disposal, either to keep or to sell . In this re-spect the state and collective farms are entirely different . Every-thing a state farm produces above its own needs (food, fodder,and seed) is turned over to the state ; everything a collectivefarm produces above the fixed government quota and the sharedue the machine-tractor station belongs to it to dispose of as itsees fit . The only stipulations made by the state in this regardare that sufficient produce must be set aside for the collective'sseed fund and that a part of the income be paid to the fundout of which loans which have been made to the collective arerepaid .

Beginning with May, 1932, when measures were taken pro-viding for the unrestricted sale of all surplus produce from thecollectives, collective farm trade has shown steady develop-ment. By the fall of 1932 there were already over 20,000collective farm booths and stands in the towns . In addition tothe regular day-to-day trade large fairs are organized fromtime to time embracing one or more districts . Collective farmtrade constitutes a vital factor both in the economic strengthen-ing of the collective farms and in the improved provisioning ofthe city workers.

Capital InvestmentsThe extensive reconstruction of agriculture has involved

heavy capital investments . Investments in socialized agri-culture during the four and one-quarter years of the first Five-Year Plan totaled Io .8 billion rubles, 50 per cent in excess ofthe original - schedule set for five years. Of the total, 3 billionwent to the share of the collective farms and machine-tractorstations. The collectives and stations invested an additional 1 .7billion rubles from their own resources . State investments went

226


for agricultural machinery, organization of machine-tractorstations, extensive irrigation and reclamation work, farmbuildings (modern cattle barns, silo-towers, garages, repairshops, etc .), dwellings, clubhouses, and other communal struc-tures. As a result of these investments and the development ofcollective and state farms, the basic capital of the socializedsector of agriculture (including dwellings) increased from1 .37 billion rubles on January 1, 1928 to 13 .35 billion onJanuary 1, 1933 ; the value of farm inventory (tractors, im-plements and means of transportation) increased from 170 to3,274 million rubles, and to 3,990 million rubles on January 1,

1934 . In agriculture as a whole the value of machinery andimplements on January 1, 1934 was 5 .3 billion rubles, havingshown a gain of over 75 per cent in five years .

During the first two years of the second Five-Year Planperiod Soviet farms received agricultural machinery to a valueof 1 .3 billion rubles including 137,000 tractors, all of whichwere of Soviet manufacture . The total tractor power in agri-culture rose from 278,000 hp . on October 1, 1928, to 4,500,-000 hp. by the end of 1934, while the average power pertractor increased from 10 to 15 hp. In addition to 281,000tractors, there were at the end of 1934 approximately 33,000combines, 129,000 threshers and about 34,000 trucks andcars at work on farms in the U .S .S .R. Tractor-drawn ma-chinery made up 84 per cent of all the agricultural machineryin use in 1932, as against only 4 .6 per cent in 1927-28 . In theearly years of the first Five-Year Plan this machinery consistedchiefly of machines used in grain raising, but by the end of theperiod machinery for the cultivation and harvesting of indus-trial crops constituted a substantial share of the total .

Practically the entire supply of tractors and agriculturalmachinery is now concentrated in the machine-tractor stationsand on large state farms, the former having 63 per cent and

AGRICULTURE 227

the latter 35 per cent of the total number used in agriculture .This concentration is intended to make for the maximumutilization of the machinery . A tractor of a machine-tractorstation works on the average 2,000 hours per year, consider-ably more than the norm of utilization in many countries .

In order to carry out properly the new methods of cultiva-tion involved in large-scale, mechanized agriculture, it has beennecessary to train many workers and peasants in the new tech-nique . In 1933 the number of students in agricultural collegesreached 6o,6oo as against 27,300 in 1928 ; in secondary agri-cultural schools 121,400, as compared with 62,800 . In addi-tion, 4.5 million peasants in 1932 took special agriculturalcourses. Among the latter were about 400,000 tractor driversand 500,000 brigade and field-work leaders . During the five-year period over 50,000 organizers and directors received spe-cial training. All this, however, is only a small beginning inthe great task of transforming the illiterate peasantry of pre-war days, accustomed to only the most primitive tools, intoskilled agriculturists, conversant not only with scientific meth-ods of cultivation, but also with the entirely new organizationalforms of socialized agriculture . It is expected that by 1937the number of students in agricultural colleges will have beenincreased to 1 o6,ooo and the number in technicums (secondaryagricultural schools) to 197,000 .

Grain CropThe 1933 grain crop was reported to have been

the largest in Russian history . The total grain harvested,89.8 million tons, was 12 per cent greater than the recordcrop of 1913 and 28 per cent above the 1932 crop (69 .87million tons) . The gain was due primarily to increased yieldper hectare, the area under grain in 1933 being only 1 .6per cent above that of 1932 . The yield per hectare was 25 .7per cent larger, amounting to 8.8 centners in 1933, as

228


against 7.0 centners in 1 932 (7.5 centners in the five yearperiod 1928-1932 and 7 .4 centners in 1909-1913) . The grainarea, yield and harvest, by principal crops, is given below :

1932

SOWN AREA YIELD HARVEST1933

SOWN AREA YIELD HARVEST

sYield for winter crop ; 1933 spring crop yields : wheat-7 .I ; rye-8 .3, barley-10 .9 .

In a number of republics and regions the yield per hec-tare was considerably higher than the average for the coun-try as a whole. In the Ukraine, for example, the averageyield for all grains was 11 .2 centners per hectare, as com-pared with 8.1 in 1932 and 10.5 in 1930 .

Grain collections were 21 .2 per cent above the 1932 fig-ure ; those for wheat and oats 49.3 and 63 .7 per centgreater. Collectives supplied more than 8o per cent of thetotal collections, while the individual peasants contributed onlysomewhat more than 1 o per cent. The remainder was ac-counted for by the state farms . Of the total grain collectionsin 1933, totaling about 20 million tons, the collectives con-tributed over 16 million tons, the state farms 1 .4 million andthe individual peasants 2 .1 million tons.

The 1934 grain crop practically maintained the high levelattained in 1933, totaling 89.4 million tons. Wheat (30,-410,000 tons) and oats (18,goo,ooo tons) showed substan-tial increases ; rye (20,130,000 tons), barley (6,840,000 tons)and corn (3,840,000 tons) declined both in total production

(mill.ha.)

(centnersper ha.)

(thous .tons)

(mill.ha.)

(centnersper ha.)

(thous .tons)

Wheat 34.63 7 .4 9 20,250.0 33 .24 1o .8 9 27,726 .8

Rye 25.20 8 .4 9 22,020 .0 25 .38 9 .59

24,185 .7Barley 6 .30 6 .7 9 5,030.0 7 .26 9 .7 9 7,848 .4

Oats 14.40 7.3 11,240:0 16 .68 9 .2 15,410 .9

Millet 7 .68 5.6 4330 .0 8 .85 5 .5 4825 .7Corn 3 .50 9.3 3430.0 3 .96 12 .1 4,800 .4

Buckwheat 1 .66 5 .6 920 .0 2 .04 5 .5 1,265 .2

Others 6 .34 - z,65o.o 3 .94 - 3,739 .2

Total 99 .71 7 .0 69,870 .0 101 .35 8 .8 89,802 .3

AGRICULTURE

229

and average yield . The slight decline in the total grain cropwas due chiefly to the severe drought which affected certainareas in the spring of 1934 . The better organization of har-vesting, irrigation and other measures resulted in a higher yieldper hectare and largely counteracted the effects of the drought .Despite the unfavorable meteorological conditions the yieldper hectare for spring wheat amounted to 8 .9 centners, ex-ceeding the proposed yield in 1937 by 11 .2 per cent, and theyield in 1933 by 1 .8 centners. The yield for all grain cropswas 8 .5 centners, slightly less than in 1933 . Deliveries to thestate amounted to about 25 million tons, exceeding those ofthe preceding year.

Industrial and Other CropsThe 1933 harvest of industrial crops, despite a slight de-

crease in sown area, was also considerably higher than in 1932,and, with the exception of sugar beets, higher than in any pre-ceding year. A yield of from 150 to 18o centners per hectarewas attained in a number of sugar-beet districts, but the aver-age yield for the country as a whole was still low-74 centnersper hectare. The average cotton yield on collective farms was8 centners per hectare, as against 7 centners in 1932 . The totalcotton crop in 1933 amounted to 1 .32 million tons, 59 percent more than in 1928 and about 8o per cent above the pre-war level. Of the total output in 1933 Egyptian cotton con-stituted 30,150 tons, as against 22 tons in 1928 .

The decreased yield per acre in recent years, as comparedwith before the war, was due primarily to the introduction ofnew, hitherto uncultivated cotton land . In 1933 the yield perhectare amounted to 0 .64 tons and in 1934 o.68 tons .

Among the factors contributing to the expansion of cottoncultivation are collectivization of cotton-raising areas, extensiveirrigation projects, mechanization, increased application of min-eral fertilizers, and improvement of quality of the seed. In

230


1927 individual peasants sowed 98 per cent of the total cottonarea. In 1933, 89.8 per cent of the total area under cultivationwas sown by collectives and state farms (1,713,400 and 128 ;100 hectares respectively), while individual peasants sowed only210,100 hectares.

The collectivization of cotton growing made possible exten-sive mechanization of operations. The number of machine andtractor stations serving cotton collectives increased from 19 in1930 to 230 in 1933, while the total horse-power of tractorsemployed in the cotton regions increased from 12,300 to morethan 192,000, of which 136,000 hp . were in the service of themachine and tractor stations and 56,000 on state farms . An-other step in the direction of mechanization is the developmentof the mechanical cotton picker, which has been introduced inmany districts .

A great deal has also been achieved in improving the qualityof the cotton. The average length of cotton fiber before thewar was 26 mm . and in the last three years-27 .5 . About 37per cent of the total area in 1934 was sown to long-fiber cot-ton (28 mm. and longer) as compared with only 22 per centin 1 933 .

The oil-seed crop in 1933 was 4.6 million tons, as comparedwith 4.5 in 1932 . Half of the total was accounted for bysunflower seeds, the 1933 harvest of which exceeded that of1932 by 8o,ooo tons. Sunflowers and flax are grown more ex-tensively in the U .S .S.R. than in any other country . Nearlyfour million hectares were sown to sunflowers in 1933, thechief producing sections being the Ukraine and the CentralBlack Soil, Lower and Middle Volga, and North Caucasus Re-gions. Long-fiber flax, grown chiefly for its fiber, is raised prin-cipally in the central and western sections (Moscow, Western,Ivanovo Industrial and Gorky Regions) ; curly flax, cultivatedprimarily for its seed, is grown further south-in the CentralBlack Soil, Lower Volga and North Caucasus Regions . The

AGRICULTURE

231

1933 tea crop totaled 3,168 tons of tea leaves, yielding about770 tons of dried tea, nearly double the 1932 figure (396tons) . The yield per hectare in 1933 was 803 kilograms, asagainst 700 kg. in the preceding year.

Preliminary reports of the 1934 crop indicate considerablyhigher returns for sugar beets, tea and tobacco . Flax andsunflower seeds recorded declines while the cotton crop re-mained at the level of the preceding year . The harvest of sugarbeets increased by 26 .4 per cent and the yield per hectare from74 to 96 centners . The tea leaf crop more than doubled,amounting to 6,560 tons and yielding about 1,480 tons of tea .The yield per hectare of irrigated cotton increased to 8 .1 cent-ners as compared with 7 .8 centners in 1 933 while the averageyield for the entire cotton area was 7 .5 centners as comparedwith 6 .4 centners in 1933 . The yield per hectare of flax fiber(2 .53 centners) recorded a gain of ten per cent, but owingto a larger drop in the sown area the harvest was slightly belowthat of 1933 . The yield of tobacco amounted to 8 .8 centnersper hectare as compared with 6 .3 during 1928-1932, and forsunflower seeds-5 .9 centners as against an average of 5 .2centners from 1928 to 1932 and 6.o centners in 1933 . Thepotato yield in 1934 totaled g1 .6 centners per hectare ascompared with 78.1 centners in 1928-1932 and 87 .1 centnersin 1 933 .

The sown area and harvest data for the principal industrialcrops in recent years are given below :

COTTON (UNGINNED)

SUGAR BEETS

FLAX (LONG FIBER)Sown area(in mill.

ha.)

Harvest(in mill.tons)

Sown area(in mill .

ha .)

Harvest(in mill .

tons)

Sown area(in mill.ha.)

Harvest(in mill.tons)

1913 0 .70 0 .74 o .62 10 .90 1 .86 0 .451928 0.97 o.8z 0.77 10.14 1 .36 0.321930 1 .58 1 .11 1 .04 14.02 1 .47 0.441932 2 .17 1 .27 1 .54 6 .56 2 .51 0.50

1933 2 .05 1 .32 1 .21 9 .00 2 .40 0.56

1934 1 .94 1 .32 1 .18 11 .36 2.11 0 .53

232


The statistics on sown area of some of the other industrialcrops, aside from those given in the table above, are shown inthe following table :

*The sunflower seed crop for the corresponding years totaled (in millions of tons) :2 .13, 1 .63, 2 .27, 2 .35 and 2.o8; the tobacco harvest totaled 56,85o tons in 1933 and79,200 tons in 1934.

The Livestock SituationThe raising of livestock in the U .S .S.R. suffered a severe

setback during the years of the first Five-Year Plan . Chiefamong the factors contributing to this situation were : thewholesale slaughter of cattle, horses, etc . instigated by the hostileelements in the peasant population as a form of resistance tocollectivization ; illegal insistence, in some instances, by over-zealous local organizers upon collectivization of small live-stock, etc . ; inadequate care of stock due to lack of experience ofmembers of collectives. As a result of these and other factors,the number of horses, cattle, and swine was cut in half duringthe period from 1928 to 1933 and the number of sheep andgoats reduced by 65 per cent . The rate of decline was greatestduring the years of intensive reorganization of the system ofagriculture (1930-1932) . With this process well on the waytowards completion, 1933 witnessed an appreciable loweringof the rate of decrease . In the case of swine the decline wasdefinitely checked and there was a gain of 6oo,ooo head overthe previous year.

The year 1934 marked a turning point in this field in thatthe decline in the number of livestock which characterized the

SOWN AREA(in thousands of hectares)

1928 1930 1932 1933 1934Sunflower* 3905 3386 5306 3897 3500Soybean 48 332 300 164 113Hemp 913 728 944 755 598Kenaf 12 55 40 12 11

Tobacco • 45 54 99 89 90Mustard 83 113 318 265 258

AGRICULTURE

233

preceding years was halted, and an upward trend started . TheJuly, 1934, census of livestock, the results of which are givenin the table below, registered a 1 o per cent increase in thenumber of cattle, a three per cent gain in the number of sheepand goats and an increase of 44 per cent in the number ofswine, as compared with July, 1933 . For cattle and sheepand goats this was the first increase recorded in a number ofyears. Only the number of horses declined, by 5 .5 per cent,but the number of young horses and colts increased by 311,000head (12.4 per cent) . Preliminary returns from the January,1935, livestock census indicated that the upward trend startedat the beginning of the year had been maintained . The numberof cattle of collective farms and belonging to individual andcollective farmers registered a gain of 21 per cent as comparedwith January 1, 1934 ; pigs increased by 118 per cent andsheep and goats by I I per cent, The decline in the total num-ber of horses dropped to three per cent during the year . Atthe same time, the number of horses on collective farms in-creased by 8 .5 per cent.

LIVESTOCK IN U .S .S .R .(in millions of head)

SHEEPHORSES

CATTLE Cows AND GOATS SWINE

1928 35 .5

70. 5 30.8 146 .7 26 .o

1929 34 .0

68.1 30 .3 147 .2 20 .9

1930 30 .2

52.5 26 .7 io8 .8 13 .6

1931 z6 .z

47.9 24.4 77 . 7 14 .41932 19 .6

40.7 21 .0 52 .1 11 .6

1933 16 .6

38.4 19 .6 50.2 12.1

1934 15 .7

42.4 19 .6 51 .9 17.5

DISTRIBUTION OF LIVESTOCK(in millions of head)

INDIVIDUALSTATE COLLECTIVE COLLECTIVIZEDFARMS FARMS PEASANTS PEASANTS

Horses1930 25 .370 .21

4.44

1931 o.6z

12.12 13 .071932 0.89

10.77 0.36 6 .79

1933 o.82

10.12 0.43 4.37

1934 0 .96

9.94 0.39 3 .37

234


There were on January I, 1 935, 194,000 collective farmsengaged in the production of livestock for the market, makingup 8o per cent of the total number of collective farms . Theaim is to establish livestock sections on every collective farm .Aside from these, there are about 2,000 state-owned livestockfarms, all established in the last few years . A number of theseare devoted to the development of improved breeds of stockfor the collective farms .

A definite indication of the improvement in the livestocksituation last year is the considerable reduction in the losses ofyoung livestock . In 1934, deaths of calves amounted to 13.8per cent of the total births as compared with 19 .7 per cent

in 1933 . The percentage declines in losses for pigs and lambs

STATE

FARMS

COLLECTIVE

FARMS

COLLECTIVIZED

PEASANTS

INDIVIDUAL

PEASANTS

Cattle1930 0.74 3 .57 47 .81

1931 2 .53 8 .27 36 .46

1932 3 .53 10 .11 12 .70 13 .43

1933 3 .69 9 .17 14.88 9 .62

1934 4.43 9 .86 17 .21 9 .32

Cows1930 0.31 1 .41 24.751931 1 .20 3 .00 19 .741932 1 .72 3 .04 8 .14 7 .54

1933 1 .70 7 .97 9 .00 5 .20

1934 1 .8z 3 .09 9 .15 4 .52

Sheep and Goats

1930 2 .65 5 .61 100.10

1931 4.85 12.35 59 .831932 7.zz 12.08 14.56 17 .72

1933 7 .63 12.24 17 .28 12 .29

1934 8 .6o 14 .13 17 .51 10 .53

Swine1930 0 .19 o .86 12 .46

1931 1 .13 2.52 10-57

1932 1 .93 3.22 2.90 2 .87

1933 2 . 54 2 .97 3 .77 z .,8

1934 4 .19 3 .70 5 .42 2 .73

AGRICULTURE 235

were 14.4 and 9 .o per cent, as compared with 24 .9 and 12 .2per cent, respectively, in the previous year .

The government has outlined a comprehensive program em-bracing every phase of the livestock problem . In order to en-courage the establishment of livestock sections and increase ofproduction on the collective farms various special tax exemptionswill be granted . The quota for meat deliveries to the state estab-lished for 1934 is to be left unchanged in 1935 and 1936 andit is strictly prohibited to require collective farms to sell livestockabove the compulsory norms.

Aside from measures to stimulate the growth of the collec-tively-owned herds, assistance is being extended to collectivefarm members to purchase livestock for their personal use .In the latter part of 1933 and the first half of 1934, thesefarmers were enabled to purchase 1,500,000 calves and twomillion suckling pigs with the assistance of government creditswithout interest. By April, 1935, it was planned that 2,000,-000 more calves would be purchased, and within two yearsit is expected that every peasant home will have its cow andother livestock .

Attention is now being devoted to improving the herds . Inorder to extend the distribution of blooded stock, state registra-tion of cattle has been organized in all regions, under the con-trol of the Commissariat for Agriculture . The breeding ofselected stock is encouraged by means of special tax exemptions,exhibits, and competitions among the various farms .

For the organization of correct feeding, special plots of landhave been set aside for sowing of grain fodder and root crops .The state livestock farms have introduced crop rotation of feedcrops. The collective livestock farms are to devote five millionhectares of additional land in 1935 for the purpose of growingfeed crops. This area will be exempt from taxation .

In connection with the basic reconstruction of the livestock

236


industry the field for veterinary work has been greatly broad-ened. The number of districts receiving veterinary service hasincreased considerably and now totals over 4,400 . In additionthere are 6,8oo points at which assistant veterinarians are sta-tioned. An even greater expansion in veterinary services isrequired, however. In 1934, there were still 40,000 head ofcattle to each veterinary doctor.

In order to cope with this situation there has been createda large network of veterinary educational institutions . In pre-war Russia there were only four veterinary institutes, graduat-ing a few dozen specialists annually from each . At the end of1934 there were eleven veterinary and four zootechnical col-leges and 32 veterinary and zootechnical faculties at agricul-tural colleges, the number of students in these totaling 15,421 .In addition, there were 32 veterinary technicums and 45veterinary departments in other technicians, 70 zootechni-cums and 92 such departments in other technicums ; the stu-dents in these secondary institutions and faculties at the endof 1934 totaled 32,095 .

Second Five-Year PlanA great deal remains to be accomplished in agriculture in

the way of improving organization, extending the applicationof machinery and modern methods, training peasants in theuse of new equipment, increasing yields and developing live-stock production . These tasks are given emphasis in the secondFive-Year Plan program for agriculture . The output of thelivestock industry is scheduled to record a gain of 125 per cent .Grain production is to reach 104 .8 million tons, sugar-beet-27.6 million tons, cotton fiber-o.7 million tons, and flax fiber-o.8 million tons. Total agricultural output is scheduled todouble, rising from 13 .1 billion rubles in 1932 to 26 .2 billionrubles in 1 937-

AGRICULTURE

237

The planned growth in the marketable output of agriculturalproducts (aside from the part consumed by the peasants them-selves) is shown in the following table :

The increase in production is expected to come almost en-tirely from greater yields per hectare rather than from expan-sion of the sown area. The latter is to be increased by only5,305,000 hectares during the period (as compared with a gainof 21,400,000 hectares during the first Five-Year Plan) . Ofthe increased grain production about 85 per cent is expected tobe derived from higher yields . The yield per hectare is sched-uled to rise from an average of 7 .5 centners in 1928-1932 to10.0 centners in 1937 . There is to be a great expansion ofscientific methods, including the use of selected seed, propercrop rotation, expansion of fallow and fall plowing, etc .

The machine and tractor stations are expected to play aleading role in the process of completing the technical recon-struction of agriculture . Government authorities predict thatby the end of the second Five-Year Plan period collectiviza-tion will embrace the entire peasantry. The number of machineand tractor stations will increase 2Y2 fold, to a total of 6,ooo,and it is expected that in these centers will be concentratedfrom 75 to 9o per cent of the principal types of agriculturalmachinery in the country (tractors, combines, tractor-plows,etc .) . The stations will have as one of their main tasks thetraining of millions of mechanics and machine operators andthe improvement of labor discipline and organization on the

MARKETABLE OUTPUT PER CENTINCREASE(in mill . tons

PRODUCT 1932 1937Grain 19 .85 34 .5 73 .8Potatoes 8 .98 15 .8 76 .2Vegetables and melons 4 .19 8 .7 io8 .iMeat 0.94 2.5 165 .7Milk and dairy products 4.09 9 .6 135 .7

238


collective farms, with the aim of converting them into efficientindustrialized enterprises .

According to the program the use of the principal mineralfertilizers during the second Five-Year Plan will increase from1,115,000 tons in 1932 to 8,390,000 tons in 1937. Alarge program of construction of shops, garages, sheds, etc. is tobe carried out, as well as the building of some 200,000 kilo-meters of improved country roads .

IXTRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS

THE Soviet Union inherited a very backward transportationsystem . The railway network was entirely inadequate to servethe needs of such a large country ; the river and merchantfleets were small and antiquated ; motor transport and auto-mobile roads were practically unknown ; and civil aviation wasentirely nonexistent. By the close of the world and civil warsboth water and rail transportation were completely disorgan-ized. In spite of these handicaps the Soviet Union succeeded,in the course of the past dozen years, in building up itsrailway system to a point far beyond the prewar status andits river shipping to second' rank (after the United States),and made great progress in the development of motor transportand civil aviation . Rapid strides were made in the course of thefirst Five-Year Plan period, during which a total of 9 .8 billionrubles were invested in various branches of transportation .

RAILWAYS

The railways suffered most of all from the ravages of war .Already undermined by the strain of the world war andlack of repairs to the antiquated rolling stock, the railway sys-tem was brought to utter devastation by the civil war andintervention . Close to 8o per cent of the railway lines lay inthe sphere of hostilities . About one-fourth of the total track-age and thousands of railway bridges and other structures weredestroyed. The majority of the locomotives were in disrepair,while nearly half of the passenger and one-third of the freightcars were out of commission . Due both to destruction of tracksand rolling stock and to lack of fuel, the railways carried inI92I only one-fifth of the prewar volume of traffic .

239

240


The rapid development of industry during the period of theFive-Year Plan placed heavy burdens on the transporattion sys-tem, especially the railroads . In order to provide the maximumfacilities, capital investments were concentrated mainly on linesalready in operation at the expense of some of the new railwayconstruction scheduled in the Five-Year Plan . Consequently,the program for the length of lines in operation was not fullycarried out; that for freight and passenger operations, on theother hand, was overfulfilled . In 1932 railway freight opera-tions reached 169 .3 billion ton-kilometers, two and one-halftimes the pre-war figure and four per cent in excess of the1932-33 schedule ; passenger operations came to 84 billionpassenger-kilometers, over three times the pre-war figure andmore than double the 1932-33 program .

The progress made during the past few years, as comparedwith pre-war conditions and the program of the first Five-Year Pla , is set forth in the table below :

3 . Density (mill . ton-km . per km .)

1.14. Average daily run :

Locomotives (km .)

119.1Cars (km .)

72.05 . Average daily car load-

ings (thous .)

27.4C . Passenger traffic :

1 . Operations (bill .pass. km.) 25 .2

2 . Volume (millions) 184 .83 . Density (thous . pass.

km. per km .)

432.0

1 Data for fiscal year 1927-28 .

1928 1930 1932 1932-33(plan)

1933

1934(prelim .)

76 .9 77 .0 81 .6 94 .0 82 .6

83.2

93 .4 133 .9 169 .3 162 .7 169 .5

202.215o .6 1 238 .7 267 .0 281 .0 268 .1

316.01zo .6 - 219 .4 - - -30 .0 - 47 .6 - -

1 .2 1 .7 2 .03 1 .73 2 .05 2 .43

137 .5 152 .9 164 .4 175 .0 163 .5 169 .584 .6 89 .4 98 .5 110.0 97 .6 117 .2

32 .4 46 .3 51 .4 - 51 .2 56 .2

24 .5 51 .8 84 .1 35 .4 75 .1 71 .0291 .1 558 .6 980 .0 455 .0 927 .0 942 .0

320 .0 678 .9 1,008 .0 402.0 909 .0 853 .0

1913

A. Length of lines in opera-tion ( thous . km .)

58.5B . Freight Traffic :

1 . Operations (bill .ton-km .)

65.72 . Volume (mill . tons) 132 .2

Industrial

100.2Agricultural

32.0

TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS z¢1

Freight and Passenger Traffic

During the four and one-quarter years of the first Five-Year Plan period freight operations increased by 81 .3 per cent,an unprecedented rate of increase . The process of industrializa-tion was reflected in the large increase in shipments of indus-trial goods, especially fuel, metals and building materials .Shipments of these chief items of industrial freight doubledduring the four-year period and accounted for 6o per cent ofthe total freight traffic in 1932 . The creation of the new indus-trial centers in the East, particularly the Ural-Kuznetz coaland metallurgical base, and the industrialization of the minornational republics and backward regions resulted in a consid-erable change in the direction of the flow of freight traffic .Thus, the freight turnover in West Siberia doubled and thatin Kazakstan trebled during the four-year period, as againsta general increase of about 8o per cent. The socialized sectoraccounted for 99 .8 per cent of total freight turnover in 1932,shipments by the private sector amounting to only 350,000tons, as against to million tons in 1928 .

The growth in passenger traffic during the first Five-YearPlan period greatly exceeded the program . As early as 1930passenger operations surpassed the schedule set by the Planfor 1932-33 by 50 per cent, and by 1932 this schedule wasmore than doubled . This tremendous growth in so short aperiod of time was primarily the result of the rapid industrial-ization of the country and the creation of many new industrialcenters. The average number of railway trips per year perinhabitant trebled during the four years, averaging 6 in 1932,as against 2 in 1928 and 1 .4 in 1913-

There has been an especially large increase in traveling forpleasure by workers, singly or in groups. Excursions of allkinds are organized by the trade-union or other organizations,for free days or for the annual vacation . In 1932 "workers'

242


tourism" embraced between i o and 15 million workers, aboutfour times as many as in 1931 .

Suburban transportation has developed at an . exceptionallyrapid rate, commuters in 1932 constituting 69 per cent of totalpassenger traffic, as against S4 per cent in 1928 . This is theresult of the large amount of industrial construction in theurban centers and the accompanying extension of the radiusof the towns. A large share of the new housing for workersis being constructed in the outlying sections of the towns . Theelectrification of suburban lines has speeded up service and ismaking commutation possible for an ever larger number ofcity workers .

In 1934 there was an increase in railroad traffic . Freightoperations for the year (316 million tons) were 17 .9 per centgreater than in 1933 ; daily freight car loadings averaged 56,-200 cars, a gain of 9.8 per cent. There was a large gain inthe amount of bulk freight of products of heavy industry (coal,oil, ores, metals, etc .), which made up 45 per cent of the totalfreight carried as against 41 per cent in 1933 . The averagedaily run per freight car increased from 97 .6 kilometers in

1933 to 117 km. in 1934 ; of locomotives from 163 .5 to169.5 km . The average haul per ton of freight amounted to640 km. in 1934 as compared with 632 km . in 1933 and 598km. in 1928. Heavier freight cars and locomotives wereintroduced (the average capacity per freight car increasedfrom 19 .04 to 19 .56 tons and the proportion of heavy locomo-tives from 6o to 68 per cent) . Nevertheless, railway transportis still considered one of the weakest phases of the entire na-tional economy and special measures are being taken to enableit to fulfill the program set for it. In the second quarter of1935, loadings averaged 68,ooo cars daily as against 55,000in the first quarter.

The overfulfillment of the Five-Year Plan schedules as

TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS 24.3

regards traffic operations led to operating expenditures exceed-ing the program . However, revenues showed an even greaterexcess over the program than did expenditures . Expendituresdoubled during the four years ; revenues trebled. The follow-ing table gives revenues and expenditures since 1927-28 :

OPERATING

OPERATING

NET OPERATING

REVENUE

EXPENDITURE

PROFIT

The net profit of the railways in 1933 amounted to 2 .1billion rubles, five times the profit in 1927-28, while the co-efficient of exploitation (ratio of expenditures to income) waslowered from 79 to 64 . The sum total of profits for theperiod of the first Five-Year Plan came to about 6 billionrubles, sufficient to cover the bulk of the investments in rail-ways during the period (6 .4 billion rubles) .

Technical Reconstruction o f Railways

Railway transportation overfulfilled the program of the firstFive-Year Plan, despite the fact that the increase in rollingstock was somewhat below schedule . This result was achievedby reconstruction measures and by improved utilization ofrolling stock . Chief among the measures of reconstructionwere : replacing lower- by higher-powered locomotives and in-creasing the carrying capacity of freight cars ; strengtheningthe road bed and laying heavier rails ; constructing stations andyards and lengthening station tracks; laying second, third orfourth tracks on the most important trunk lines ; introductionof automatic coupling, brakes and signalling ; partial adoptionof electric and Diesel locomotive traction .

(mill . rubles)

1927-28 1,855 1,469 3861928-29 2,249 1,566 6831929-30 2,968 1,814 1,154

1931 4,313 2,751 1,562

1932 5,489 32373 2,116

1933 5,764 3,670 2,094


During the first Five-Year Plan period the Soviet railroadsreceived 2,666 new freight locomotives of the E type (trac-tion power-16.2 tons), 75 per cent more powerful than thetype prevailing in prewar Russia, 288 large passenger locomo-tives, and 65,000 freight cars (2-axle units), including 40,-000 heavy-tonnage cars, 12,000 tank cars, and 3,200 hoppercars. Moreover, the existing rolling stock was modernized andequipped with new features, such as rocking grates, automaticbrakes, etc . In the four-year period the total traction power offreight engines rose by 35 per cent, making it possible to in-crease considerably the average size of trains . The manufac-ture of super-power locomotives, exceeding the power of theE type by 30 per cent and ranking with the best types ofAmerican heavy locomotives, was begun during the first Five-Year Plan. It is planned to produce over 1,000 of themannually at the new Lugansk locomotive works, opened inNovember, 1 933 .

Further increases in all types of rolling stock took place in

1933 and 1934 . The average number of locomotives avail-able in 1933 was 18,700 (17,900 in 1932 and 16,8oo in1913) and of freight cars (in two-axle units)-555,000 asagainst 397,000 in 1913 . In 1934, 1,087 engines and 26,800freight cars were added .

In the past few years experiments have been made in theuse of Diesel locomotive traction in the desert regions of Cen-tral Asia, new types of Diesel locomotives designed and theirmanufacture begun . A number of suburban lines with theheaviest passenger traffic and two sections in the Caucasus andUral mountains were electrified. The length of electrifiedsections was 350 km . on January 1, 1934- In addition,over 1,400 kilometers of the most congested sections of rail-roads in the Urals, Donbas, Kuzbas and Transcaucasia are inprocess of electrification . By the end of 1934 automatic

TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS 245

block signalling had been introduced on 2,500 km . of railwaylines (over I,5oo km. during 1933 and 1934) . While beforethe war there were no train dispatchers, and by 1928 thenewly installed dispatchers controlled only 18 per cent of thelines in operation, by the end of 1932 over go per cent of thelines were so controlled . By the end of 1934, 27 per cent of,the freight cars had been equipped with appliances for auto-matic braking as against 17 per cent in 1933 . The basic capitalof the railway system increased from I1 .5 billion rubles in1928 to 15.5 in 1933. Capital investments in the railwaysystem during the first Five-Year Plan totaled 7 .4 billionrubles; in 1933 and 1934 investments amounted to 5 .4 billionrubles .

Among the experiments now being conducted with newtypes of trains may be mentioned those with the "aero-train"and the ball-bearing or "sphero" train . The former .runs onan elevated single-rail track, the train being designed in theform of two zeppelin-shaped cars linked together by a rigidsteel frame and hanging over the sides of the track . It ispropelled by Diesel engines. The ball-bearing train is madeof stream-line-shaped cars running on huge motorized ball-bearings in a grooved track. It is claimed that these trains willbe able to develop speeds of from 200 to 300 km. per hour .

New Railways

During the first Five-Year Plan period 1 .3 billion rubleswere expended on the building of new railroads . Construc-tion was begun on 14,000 km . of new lines, of which 6,500km. were opened during the four-year period . Of the lattertotal about 8o per cent are located in outlying regions, chieflyin the East. In 1933 new lines of 1,065 km . in length wereput into operation and in 1934 an additional 577 km. Amongthe most important of the new lines are :

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i . Turkestan-Siberian (1,442 km.)-links up Siberia withKazakstan and Central Asia; important aid in development ofrich natural resources of Kazakstan and of cotton regions ofCentral Asia .

2. Borovoye-Akmolinsk-Karaganda (460 km.)-facilitatesdevelopment of Karaganda coal basin .

3 . Troitsk-Orsk (398 km.)-principal outlet from thesouthern Urals.

4-7 . Leninsk-Novosibirsk (295 km.), opened for service inNovember, 1933 ; Sverdlovsk-Kurgan (248 km .) ; Kolchu-gino-Kuznetz ; Kartaly-Magnitnaya-f our lines providing im-proved transportation facilities for the Ural-Kuznetz combine .

Of the new lines still under construction two are of excep-tional importance : (1) the Moscow-Donbas (1,195 km.),begun in 1932 and to be completed in 1936 ; and (2) theKaraganda-Kounrad (507 km.), constituting a link betweenthe Karaganda coal basin and the large nonferrous metalscombine being built on the shores of Lake Balkhash . Thefirst section of the Moscow-Donbas line, of 641 km., and abranch of 95 km . were put into operation during 1934 . Twolarge railroad bridges were completed in 1934, at Kashiraand Gorky. Early in 1935, the double-tracking of the Trans-Siberian railway was completed .

In 1934 the total length of lines in operation reached 83,-200 km., as against 76,900 km. in 1928 and 58,500 km . in1913 . The Asiatic part of the Soviet Union has shown by farthe greater increase over prewar-over 70 per cent as com-pared with a gain of a third for the European part of theUnion. The latter has about 70 per cent of the total railwaymileage. At the beginning of 1933 there were only 3 .9 kilo-meters of railways for every 1,000 square kilometers of terri-tory and 4.9 kilometers of lines for every io,ooo inhabitants .


Foreign Technical 4id and Training o f Personnel

In the building of new lines and the reorganization of theentire Soviet railway system American experience was drawnupon to a considerable extent. A delegation of 35 Soviet rail-way executives, headed by D. C . Sulimov, at the time Vice-Commissar for Transportation and now Chairman of theCouncil of People's Commissars of the R.S.F.S.R ., visited theUnited States in the spring and summer of 193o and made astudy of American railway transportation and industries serv-ing transportation, particularly locomotive and car building .Ralph Budd, formerly President of the Great Northern Rail-way and now President of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy,visited the U .S.S.R. that same summer, at the invitation of theSoviet Government, and submitted recommendations for thereorganization and improvement of railway transportation. Anumber of American engineers and more than i oo skilledrailway mechanics and technicians have since then aided inthe reorganization of Soviet railroading along American lines .The U.S.S.R ., being a country of long hauls and considerablebulk freight, as in the United States, has found the Americansystem of railroading more suitable than the European, whichis adapted to the conditions of shorter hauls and lighter ton-nage. Considerable rolling stock and other railway equipmenthas been imported from the United States in recent years .According to Soviet authorities, the U .S .S.R. could absorblarge additional amounts of imported railway equipment, ifsuitable credit facilities were made available .

A commission of Soviet transport workers visited Japan alsoto study its system of engine and car repairs, and a group ofJapanese specialists was engaged to assist in this work in theU.S.S.R . Altogether there are about 200 foreign specialistsnow at'work on the Soviet railways .

In recent years considerable attention has been devoted to


the problem of developing an adequate corps of railway engi-neers, technicians and skilled workers . The number of collegesand secondary technical schools specializing in the training ofsuch personnel has increased several-fold . The number ofstudents enrolled in transportation and communications tech-nical schools amounted to 147,300 on Jan . 1, 1933 . Over 30per cent of this total were enrolled in colleges. As a result thenumber of railway technicians with higher and secondary edu-cation more than doubled (from 15,300 in 1928 to 32,300in 1932) . During the same period thousands of workers withmany years of practical experience were promoted to thehigher technical and administrative positions .

Among the engineers, technicians and railways workers therehave developed many promising inventors, who have madea large contribution to the reconstruction and rationalizationof railway transportation . Some of these inventions are nowbeing used, such as the Matrosov and Kazantsev brakes, An-dreyanov's rail joint, Dulchevsky's electric-welding apparatusand Trofimov's slide valves and exhaust steam injectors .

The total number of workers employed in the operation ofSoviet railways rose from 863,000 in 1928 to 1,166,300 in1932, an increase of 35 per cent . If the workers employed incapital construction are included, the total in 1932 reached1,526,500, a gain of 57 per cent over 1928 . In 1933 thenumber reached 1,887,000 and by the end of 1934-2, 1 89, -ooo. Average monthly wages increased from 71 .55 rubles in1928 to 128.00 rubles in 1932, a growth of 76 per cent . Afurther increase took effect in 1933 of 8.2 per cent bringingthe average annual wage to 1,618 rubles.

The schedules of the Five-Year Plan for labor forces andwages were both exceeded by over 30 per cent . Labor pro-ductivity, on the other hand, while recording an increase duringthe four years of 55 per cent, failed to attain the Plan schedule


by 5 .7 per cent . Car loadings also lagged behind the program .This has been attributed chiefly to bureaucratic administration,absence of individual responsibility, and incorrect applicationof wage scales. With a view to remedying this situation a num-ber of decrees were issued in 1933 and 1934 which instituted afundamental reorganization, from top to bottom, in the man-agement of the railway system and in the wage-scales. Thisinvolved considerable increases in the salaries of engineers,technicians and skilled workers . Political departments, similarto those set up at the state farms and machine-tractor stations,were established to aid in increasing efficiency on the railroads .A large number of engineers and technicians were transferredfrom office positions in various administrative departments towork in actual operation and production . Many local and re-gional offices and departments were abolished . These measuresare of vital importance, since railway transportation is stillunable to keep pace with the demands made upon it by therapidly expanding industry and agriculture.

Second Five-Year PlanThe second Five-Year Plan will place burdens on the

railways to cope with which will require a basic technical re-construction of the entire system . It is planned to increasefreight turnover by 79 and the number of passengers carriedby 35 .5 per cent in the period from 1932 to 1937 . Recon-struction of the most important railway lines will involveelectrification of 5,000 km . of lines, double-tracking of 9,500km. of the most congested trunk lines, increasing the lengthof lines at stations and junctions by 8,500 km ., replacing lightby heavy rails over 20,000 km ., installing block signalling on8,300 km. of lines, building of many bridges, and strengthen-ing of road beds. The number of locomotives in use is to beincreased from 19,500 to 24,600 . Of the new locomotivesto be added during the period, more than a half will be of

250


the powerful new types of freight and passenger engines ofSoviet design, 400 will be electric locomotives, and 270 Dieselengines. Construction of all of these new types was startedonly in 1933 and much railway equipment may be boughtabroad during the second Five-Year Plan . The number offreight cars is to increase to 803,000 (in two-axle units), thatis, by 45 per cent ; there will be a considerable gain in theproportion of large cars and in the number equipped with auto-matic brakes and couplings .The length of new lines to be put into operation will be

I1,4oo km. This will bring the total length of railway linesto 94,800 km. Among the more important new roads will bethose connecting the following places : Baikal-Amur, Moscow-Don Basin, Ufa-Magnitnaya (Urals), Karaganda-Balkhash,and Akmolinsk-Kartaly (Kazakstan) . The principal sectionsof a new trunk line, 12,000 km. long, connecting the PacificOcean with the Black and Baltic seas, will be completed duringthe period.

Capital investment in railway transport will total 18 .7 billionrubles, of which 54.1 per cent will go for reconstruction ofexisting lines, 14 .3 per cent for new railroad construction,18.2 per cent for capital repairs and maintenance, and 4.0per cent for housing construction. The total investments willbe almost three times as great as during the first Five-YearPlan .

WATER TRANSPORTATIONAlthough the railroads handle the bulk of the total volume

of freight, water transportation is of vital importance to theSoviet Union. The U.S.S.R. has many long, navigable riversand excellent ports . In the past few years the Soviet Govern-ment has expended considerable sums in developing watertransportation, and the freight turnover of the inland water-ways and maritime ports has shown steady growth .


During the four years ending December, 1932, a total ofi, i 89 million rubles was invested in water transportation, asagainst the sum of i,io6 million rubles scheduled for the fullfive years of the first Five-Year Plan . These investments wereused to increase the tonnage of the river and maritime fleets, toopen up canals, river ways and sea routes, to construct wharves,docks, harbors, etc. A number of large new shipyards wereput into operation, and old shipyards, repair yards, and drydocks reconstructed and re-equipped . Loading and unloadingoperations have for the most part been mechanized, and anextensive system of warehouses, cold storage plants and eleva-tors built . The basic capital of water transportation more thandoubled during the four-year period . In 1933 capital invest-ments totaled 520 million rubles and the basic capital reacheda total of 2 .56 billion rubles as compared with 1 .87 billionin 1928 .

Inland Waterways

The Russian river fleet was greatly depleted during theworld and civil war periods. When its reconstruction wasundertaken in 1923-24, at least 6o per cent of the prewarriver craft had either been scrapped or were lying in disuse .Despite the considerable sums expended on reconstruction, theprewar level had not yet been attained by 1928 . During thecourse of the first Five-Year Plan period, however, river ship-ments mounted rapidly, especially that portion carried bypower-driven boats, and by 1932 were 40 per cent greaterthan prewar. Shipments in the past few years as comparedwith 1928, are given in the table below :

1928 1932 1933 1934Freight carried or towed (million tons) 18 .3 46 .9 44 .7 52 .0Freight operations (bill. ton-km .) 15 .9 25 . 1 26 .o 29 .2Passengers carried (million) 17 .8 43 .6 41 .6 40 .0Passenger operations (bill . pass .-km .) 2 .1 4 .5 3 . 7 3 .5

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Of the total freight tonnage in 1934, timber made up 30.2million tons (8.o million on vessels and 22.2 million in rafts) .This is exclusive of the timber floated by the enterprises of thePeople's Commissariat for the Timber Industry (50.4 millioncubic meters in 1933) . If floated freight is included, the totalfreight turnover in 1934 comes to 81.6 million tons, as com-pared with 71.9 million in 1932 and 48.1 million in 1913-Total freight and passenger operations have almost doubledsince 1928 . The Volga lines accounted for about 57 per centof the freight traffic and 37 per cent of passenger operations(in 1 933) .

Soviet river shipping now holds first place in Europe andsecond in the world, coming after the United States .

Considerable work has been carried out to enlarge theriver fleet and improve and lengthen the waterways . Existingvessels were re-equipped and new, modern boats constructed .

By 1934 the capacity of steam- and motor-driven boats ofthe river fleet totaled 573,600 indicated hp., as against 429,500in 1930, while that of towed river craft rose from 4,297,000tons to 5,663,000 tons. The length of navigable rivers inuse increased from 71,6oo kilometers in 1928 to 84,200 kilo-meters in 1932 and 84,500 in 1933 (including 2,670 km. ofartificial waterways in 1933 as against 2,240 km. in 1928) .The length of riverways equipped with signalling facilitiesincreased from 52,000 km. in 1928 to 70,000 km. in 1 933 .

The Soviet Union has the greatest potential length of water-ways of any country in the world, amounting to over 420,000kilometers, of which 11o,ooo kilometers can be used for navi-gation by steamers. The United States has 47,000 kilometersof navigable waterways, Germany 12,217 km., France 12,139km., and England 7,487 km. During the first Five-Year Planperiod a number of immense hydraulic construction projectswere undertaken which are of paramount significance in im-


proving Soviet waterways . First, the building of the Dnieperdam and navigation locks, in connection with the DnieperRiver power plant, resulted in the deepening of the riverchannel in the hitherto impassable "rapids" section and madethis river navigable from the Black Sea to its upper reaches .Freight traffic on this river alone is expected to amount tothree or four million tons annually.

The second great project, the construction of the Baltic-White Sea Canal, completed in June, 1933, shortens the dis-tance by water from Leningrad to Archangel to less than one-fourth, from 2,840 to 674 miles . Instead of circling aroundNorway, Sweden and Finland, a hazardous journey at best,ships now proceed from Leningrad to Archangel by this inter-nal waterway. The canal provides a direct outlet for the richnatural resources of the Soviet North-Khibini apatite, Pe-chora coal, Ukhta oil, the timber, fish and furs of the NorthernRegion. It is expected that by the end of the second Five-YearPlan freight traffic on it will reach ten million tons a year

Preliminary work on a third great hydroengineering proj-ect, the Volga-Moscow Canal, was likewise commenced dur-ing the first Five-Year Plan . This canal will be 127 kilometerslong, and is planned to be ready for navigation by the springof 1936. When it is completed part of the waters of the upperreaches of the Volga will be diverted into the Moscow River,to rejoin the Volga near Gorky. The cost of this project, whichis designed also to provide an adequate supply of drinkingwater for the city of Moscow, will be 700 million rubles .Toward the end of 1934 work was commenced on the con-struction of the Volga-Baltic Sea Canal . The completion ofthis project together with that of the Moscow-Volga Canalwill make it possible for steamers to pass directly from theBaltic Sea to Moscow .

Besides these projects, preliminary work has been done on

254


two other important projects for developing the Soviet internalwaterways-the Volga-Don Canal and a project which, by theconstruction of a series of canals linking up a number of rivers,will provide a continuous waterway between the SouthernUrals and the Kuznetz coal basin in West Siberia. The Volga-Don Canal, ioo kilometers in length, will give the land-lockedVolga basin access to the open sea, by way of the Black Sea .It is scheduled to be completed by 1 937 .

Merchant MarineThe prewar merchant fleet, consisting of 974 vessels with

a capacity of 495,284 tons, was depleted more than half inthe world and civil war periods, and about half the remain-ing ships were old and unseaworthy. Restoration began in1923 : the existing vessels were either scrapped or put intooperating shape, a number of steamers were purchased abroad,and a beginning was made in the domestic construction offreight boats, the first four steamers from Soviet shipyardsbeing completed in 1926-27 . Prior to the war the shipbuildingindustry in Russia was confined almost exclusively to theconstruction of war vessels .

The development of Soviet maritime shipping and trans-port is shown in the following table :

s As of January 1, 1927 .s As of January 1, 1932 .

The proportion of Soviet shipping employed in the foreigntrade of the U.S.S.R. has gradually increased . In 1933, 10.5

NO. OF VESSELS FREIGHT CAPACITY

(tons)

TOTAL

MARITIMEFREIGHT TURN- AND COASTWISEOVER OF SOVIET

FREIGHT

MARITIME PORTS SHIPMENTS-(mill. tons)-

1913 974 495,z84 44 .4

33.11928 195 , 212,624 s 25 .5

18.41932 300 3 777,000 48 .6

34.3

1933 - 859,700 47 .4

33.1


per cent of the exports, 88.7 per cent of the imports and 14per cent of the entire turnover was carried in domestic bottoms,as compared with nine per cent in 1932 . The remaining ton-nage is chartered-Italian, Greek, Norwegian, British andGerman vessels accounted for 64 per cent of the export ship-ments in 1933 . The total amount of freight carried by theSoviet maritime and coastwise fleet was 22 .1 million tons in1934 and 15 .9 million in 1933 . The number of passengerstotaled 2,339,000 in 1934 and 2,334,000 in 1933 . The bulkof the available tonnage is employed in the coastwise trade .

In 1932 Soviet shipyards began the manufacture ofDiesel-engine ships of from 5,500 to 9,500 tons, whereas thelargest previously produced were of 4,800 tons. New oil tank-ers of io,ooo tons each are now produced, as against 6,ooo-ton tankers a few years ago. Among the most importantshipyards engaged in the manufacture of ships for the mer-chant marine are the Marty and Northern yards at Leningrad,the Marty Shipyards at Nikolayev (Ukraine), the Sebastopolyards (Crimea), and the Voroshilov yards at Vladivostok .About half of the increase in the merchant fleet in the pastfour years is accounted for by the Soviet shipbuilding industry .From 1929 to 1 933, 59 sea vessels totaling 179,000 tonswere built.

Maritime PortsConsiderable sums have been expended during recent years

upon construction work on the maritime ports (dredging,warehouses, etc .) . About half of the total turnover of theseports is accounted for by coastwise trade and about half byforeign trade. Ports are playing an increasingly important rolein the foreign trade of the country . The share of the totalforeign trade passing through the maritime ports has risenfrom 67.8 per cent in 1913 to approximately 9o per cent inrecent years.

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Before the war there were only about ten mechanizedwharves in Russia ; by 1934 there were 134 . Whereas in 1930only 20 per cent of the freight was handled entirely by me-chanical means, by 1933 the percentage had increased to 34 .Especially great development work has been carried out onthe port of Leningrad. Tuapse on the Black Sea has becomean important oil-handling port during the course of the past fewyears, and the port of Murmansk has also been greatly de-veloped . Aside from the improvement in mechanical equipment,many warehouses and grain elevators have been constructed .In the four years from 1928 to 1932, 125 million rubles wasexpended on port construction and equipment and in 1933 anadditional 6o million rubles was allotted .

The principal Soviet maritime ports are :I . On the Arctic Ocean-Murmansk (the most northerly

port in the world ; ice-free the year round) ; Pechora (a newport for the export of coal and timber from the Pechora dis-trict) .

II . On the White Sea-Archangel ; Onega .III . On the Baltic Sea-Leningrad .IV . On the Black and Azov Seas-Odessa; Novorossisk ;

Tuapse ; Sukhum; Batum ; Nikolayev; Kherson; Sebastopol ;Mariupol ; Rostov.V. On the Caspian Sea-Baku ; Krasnovodsk.VI . On the Pacific Coast-Vladivostok ; Petropavlovsk

(Kamchatka) ; Komsomolsk .The freight turnover of 47,394, 000 tons in 1933 was di-

vided as follows (in tons) : White and Barents Seas-3,689,-ooo, Baltic Sea-4,235,000, Black Sea-14931,000, AzovSea-3,143,000, Caspian Sea-19,052,000, Pacific Ocean-2)344,000 -

The principal ports in order of turnover in 1933 were Baku(8,313,000 tons), Batum (4,557,000), Leningrad (4,196,-


ooo), Odessa (2,557,000) and Novorossisk (2,065,000 tons) .The port of Astrakhan on the land-locked Caspian Sea had aturnover of 5,833,000 tons in 1933 . All of these ports haveshown considerable growth in the past few years .

The Soviet Union has made noteworthy progress in recentyears in the development of Arctic navigation . Among themany important expeditions undertaken in 1932 was theSibiriakov expedition which succeeded in making the North-east Passage from Archangel to Vladivostok in a single season,a feat never before accomplished. Numerous Arctic expeditionswere also made in 1933, including one to extend the NorthernSea Route to the mouth of the Lena River . This is consideredof major economic importance in helping to open up the vastundeveloped regions of Yakutia, rich in gold and other naturalresources .

The Chelyuskin expedition sailed from Leningrad in theSummer of 1933 with the object of completing a voyagethrough the Northeast Passage in one season on a commercialvessel. When within a few miles of the Pacific Ocean theship was caught in the ice floes and finally sank . All but oneof the more than 100 persons among the passengers and crewwere rescued from the Arctic ice by Soviet planes .

Paralleling the feat of the Sibiriakov was the voyage of theLitke in the summer of 1934, accomplishing for the first timethe Northwest Passage in one navigation season . The tripfrom Vladivostok to Murmansk was made in 83 sailing days .

Second Five-Year PlanDespite the progress which has been recorded in the past

few years, water transportation is still considered the mostbackward branch of transport. In order to bring it up to thelevel required by the general expansion of the national econ-omy, a comprehensive program of development has been out-lined for the second Five-Year Plan . Capital investments in

258


this field, including the construction of hydro-technical works,will be over 4 .2 billion rubles, 3/ times the total during thefirst Five-Year Plan . The basic capital of water transport isexpected to increase to 4 .9 billion rubles in 1937, as comparedwith 2.41 billion in 1932 . As a result of this developmentfreight carried by the river fleet is expected to increase to91 .5 million tons and by the sea-going fleet to 38 .7 milliontons. The ton-kilometers of work of the river fleet is sched-uled to show a gain of 145 per cent and of the maritime fleet-18o per cent .

The length of navigable waterways is scheduled to increasefrom 84,000 km. in 1932 to 101,000 in 1937 . A great pro-gram of construction of artificial waterways and canals willbe carried out. This will include : the Baltic-White Sea Canalwith a length of 227 km., the first section of which was com-pleted in 1933 in record time ; the creation of a new throughwaterway on the Dnieper River ; the Moscow-Volga Canal,the largest river hydro-technical development in the world ;reconstruction of the Mariinsk and Moscow river systems,which will constitute an outlet and continuation of the futureMoscow-Volga Canal ; construction of the Volga-Don Canal ;extensive irrigation work in the Volga regions, involvingamong other projects the construction of the Yaroslavl, Gorkyand Perm hydro-electric stations, and the construction of fivedams. A total of ten million acres of the arid lands east ofthe Volga will be irrigated . With the carrying out of thisprogram the White, Baltic, Caspian and Black Seas will beconnected by a major waterway system .

Extensive shipbuilding operations will be carried on, and theriver and maritime fleets will be basically renewed and recon-structed. The capacity of the latter is to be increased from777,000 tons in 1932 to 1,353,000 tons in 1937. The landand port structures will be extensively mechanized and elec-


trifled. Besides the enlargement and re-equipment of existingports, the Plan calls for the construction of 14 new ports,including six on the Arctic Ocean, one on the White Sea, oneon the Black Sea, two on the Caspian Sea, two on the Sea ofAzov, and two on the Pacific Ocean .

MOTOR TRANSPORT-ROADS

In prewar Russia motor transport and automobile roadswere practically unknown . The total length of all roads suitedfor any kind of vehicular traffic was 24,300 kilometers, ofwhich only 4,823 kilometers were paved. Prior to the firstFive-Year Plan period the Soviet Union, applying the greatestpart of its resources to the restoration of industry and railwaytransportation, did comparatively little toward building newroads . Nevertheless, by 1928 the total length of roads suitablefor automobile traffic had increased to 41,000 kilometers, ofwhich 32,000 were gravel or paved roads and 9,000 improveddirt roads .The U.S.S.R ., with a population of 170 million and a ter-

ritory 2%2 times as large as the United States, has less thanone-fifth the railway mileage . Hence the importance of de-veloping motor transport as a supplementary means of trans-portation is evident. The society "Avtodor" (Friends of Auto-mobile and Road Development), which was organized in1927, now has several million members and has promotedgreat popular interest in increasing the production and im-portation of automobiles, in improving old roads and buildingnew ones and in developing motor transport, both freight andpassenger. During the period of the first Five-Year Plan theextent of automobile roads was more than trebled, the numberof automobiles in the country quadrupled and the length ofmotor bus lines increased by 159 per cent .

Over one billion rubles was invested in road construction

a6o


during the first Five-Year Plan period . A total of 93,000 kilo-meters of new roads was built, of which about 12,000 werepaved roads. This was several times as great as the entire lengthof improved roads before the war . In a number of regions andrepublics-Central Asia, Kazakstan, Yakutia-automobileroads were built for the first time . Among the more importanthighways opened during the first Five-Year Plan are : theAmur-Yakutsk highway (869 km.) ; the Chuisky highway

(598 km.) ; and the Usinsky highway (345 km.) . In addi-tion, 21,ooo km . of local roads were built in rural areas . Thehighest automobile road in the world, its average altitude being3,500 meters above sea level, is being built across the PamirMountains ; some of the most difficult sections were completedand opened for traffic in 1 933 .

In 1933, the first year of the second Five-Year Plan, fur-ther growth was recorded . Freight operations of automobiletrucks totaled 1 .8 billion ton-kilometers, a gain of 71 per centover 1932, and the amount of freight carried amounted to183 million tons as against 113 million in the preceding year.The amount of new road construction totaled 33,000 km .

Aside from the building of new highways, hundreds ofthousands of kilometers of country roads have been recondi-tioned. This work is done in large part by peasants underthe supervision of local authorities . In 1933 about ten millioncollectivized farmers participated in road repair projects intheir respective districts .

The net work of roads in the U .S .S.R. at the beginning of1 934 was estimated at 1,417,000 km ., of which 248,000 km .consisted of main highways (national, republican or regional)and 1,169,000 km . of local roads. Of the latter only about3.6 per cent were improved and 61 per cent suitable for auto-mobile traffic.

Prior to 1930 there were no schools which trained workers


for road construction . Now there are over 50 secondary tech-nical schools and about ioo factory schools, as well as eveningand correspondence courses, which give such training . But thiswill scarcely be adequate to supply the thousands of new engi-neers and technicians needed to carry out the program of thesecond Five-Year Plan . This program calls for trebling thelength of automobile roads and for mechanization of roadwork to the extent of 70 per cent. At the present time thereis a marked shortage of road-building machinery .

By the end of 1934 the number of automobiles in the coun-try was 179,500, as compared with 18,700 in 1928 . Of the1934 total about 85 per cent were of Soviet make, while in1928 practically all were of foreign manufacture . Domesticproduction in 1932 amounted to 23,goo automobiles, while in1934 it reached 72,500. About 75 per cent of the cars manu-factured are trucks, the average tonnage now being 2 .2 .Large auto-repair shops have been built, such as those at Mos-cow and Kiev, and the number of garages and gasoline sta-tions is rapidly increasing .

The number of bus lines increased from 265 in 1928 to582 in 1932, and their length from 14,582 to 35,255 km.These operate for the most part in the health resort districts ofthe Crimea and Caucasus, and between the suburbs and centersof the largest towns . In 1933 the number of cities operatingbus lines totaled 130 (as compared with 40 in 1928) .

On July 6, 1933, twenty automobiles of Soviet manufac-ture and three of foreign make left Moscow on a 9,500-kilometer test run across the Kara-kum desert, in Central Asia .The run was completed Sept . 30, 1933, and indicated thatdespite certain minor imperfections the Soviet machines couldstand up under severe conditions .

On July 24, 1934 a similar test for Diesel-powered auto-mobiles (a forty-day, 3,ooo-km . run) was started. Participat-

262


ing in this test were cars of nineteen foreign firms, and threeDiesel engine trucks of Soviet manufacture. After completionof the run, the motors were subjected to an additional seriesof tests during several weeks. Prizes for general excellence,durability, fuel economy, power, starting speed, etc ., wereawarded to English, German, French, Hungarian and Italianfirms. The motors were mounted on three- and five-ton Sovietchassis. A similar contest was instituted for Diesels mounted inheavy and medium tractors, in which Soviet and AmericanDiesels were awarded prizes.

The management of motor transport, both passenger andfreight, is concentrated largely in the hands of a single organi-zation, the All-Union Transport Trust, organized in 1929 .Some of the important commissariats-Agriculture, HeavyIndustry, Light Industry-have motor transport systems oftheir own, but they call on the Transport Trust in emergencies,when building materials must be rushed, when sowing or har-vesting is in full swing, etc . In addition to such emergencywork the Transport Trust handles regular freight and passen-ger service in many sections of the country, where railroadshave not yet penetrated or where connecting links are necessarybetween railway lines . Practically all the summer tourist traffic,especially of vacationists and foreign visitors in the health re-sort districts of the Crimea and the Caucasus, is handled by theTrust, as is the transportation of food and other necessities tothe various sanatoria and rest homes . Towards the end of1934 a series of interurban motor-truck lines was establishedto relieve freight congestion on the railroads . It is plannedto have these lines handle short hauls near all the large cities .

During the second Five-Year Plan motor transport is sched-uled to show a more rapid growth than all other forms oftransportation. Of the total freight operations of the transportsystem, automobiles are scheduled to account for 3 .7 per cent


in 1937 as compared with 0 .5 per cent in 1932 . Freight opera-tions are planned to total 16 billion ton-kilometers, a x4-foldincrease in five years. The number of automobiles in 1937 isset at 580,000 (as compared with 75,000 at the end of1932) .

During the period a total of 21o,ooo kilometers of roads isto be constructed, including 8o,ooo kilometers of dirt roads,77,600 kilometers of improved dirt roads, 22,400 kilometersof gravel and 30,000 kilometers of paved roads. Of the 210 ;000 kilometers of new or reconstructed roads, 48,000 kilo-meters will be part of national, republican or regional systemswhile the remaining 162,ooo kilometers will be local roads .The road-building program is planned to be more than doublethat of the first Five-Year Plan . Total capital investments inhighway transport will exceed three billion rubles, about threetimes the total of the preceding period . Expenditures formechanization of road-building operations are set at 300 millionrubles .

CIVIL AVIATION

Civil aviation is of exceptional importance to the SovietUnion with its outlying territories still lacking adequate trans-portation and communication facilities . The first airline, op-erated by a Soviet-German joint stock company called "Deru-luft," was established in 1922 . This line links Moscow withBerlin and other European capitals . The real beginning ofSoviet civil aviation, however, dates from 1923, when theU.S.S.R. commenced to build up its own civil air fleet and toestablish regular airlines throughout its territory . By 1 933the Soviet Union was second in length of airlines, followingthe United States .

The growth of Soviet civil aviation is set forth in the fol-lowing table :

264


3.

1932

Particularly rapid growth has been recorded in the trans-port of mail and freight. Over twenty times as much wascarried by air in 1934 as in 1930 .

In 1934 airlines totaled 43,000 kilometers in length, havingincreased fourfold since 1928 . Including the lines of purelylocal significance and those operated by industrial organizations,the length of lines in operation in 1934 aggregated 68,oookilometers. In 1930 only one service was operated throughoutthe year ; now many of the lines maintain year-round service .The network of airlines embraces-in addition to the Moscow-Koenigsberg and Leningrad-Riga lines, which are sections ofthe international lines operated by Deruluft-such importanttrunk lines as :

i . Minsk-Moscow-Sverdlovsk-Novosibirsk-Irkutsk-Khaba-rovsk-Vladivostok (8,847 km.) ;

2 . Leningrad-Moscow-Kharkov-Rostov-Baku-Tiflis (3,6 75km.) ;Moscow-Samara-Orenburg-Aktyubinsk-Tashkent (3, 049km.) ;

4. Moscow -Kazan -Ufa -Magnitogorsk -Karaganda -Alma-Ata ;

5. Vladivostok-Sakhalin-Kamchatka (5,000 km .) .

Airlines now cross the frozen tundra and dense forests ofthe Far North and Siberia, the deserts of Kazakstan and Cen-

1925 1928 1930 1932 1933 1934Length of lines in opera-

tion ( thous . k m .) 5 .0 11 .4 29.2 31 .9 37 .0 43 .0Distance flown ( mill. km.) 0.9 z .8 5 .9 7 .0 - 19 .0Passengers carried (thous .) 6 ., xo .6 17 .8 27 .2 42 .5 65 .0Mail carried (tons) 13 .4 93 .2 143 .9 430 1,986 .2 3,000.0Freight carried (tons) 72 .3 16z .2 206 .4 447 r,886 .7 4,200.0Aerial photography ( thous. sq . k m .) 0 .9 30 .7 96 .3 115 .0 149.9 323 .1Agricultural and forest land treated

against pests (thous . ha.) 2 .5 32 .9 68 .9 1,028 .6 1,154 .1 2,769 .0Sowing by airplane (thous. ha.) - - 4.2 4 58 .0 138 .0 126.7


tral Asia, and the high peaks of the Caucasus Mountains . Themost remote places in the U.S.S.R ., such as Yakutia, Kam-chatka and Sakhalin Island, are reached by airlines. For manysections not only of Siberia and the Far East but of CentralAsia and Kazakstan the airlines constitute the only means ofmechanical transport and mail communication . Airlines connectregional and district centers ; the largest industrial plants andstate and collective farms have air service .

The network of airports and landing fields grows fromyear to year, but, with the exception of the Moscow airport,only a very few of the airports and landing fields can be classedwith the best in other advanced countries.

In addition to the transport of mail, freight and passengersover established routes, special expeditions are made for variousscientific purposes, such as exploration, etc . During 1932 about17o,ooo km. were covered by polar expeditions, as comparedwith 30,000 km. in 1928 . In 1933 flights in the Arctic in-creased to 232,000 km. The work done by aviators in assist-ing Arctic expeditions of Soviet icebreakers and in searchesfor lost airship crews, such as that of the Italia and theAmerican aviator, Carl Ben Eielson, is well known . TheSoviet aviator Levanevsky, made a long and perilous journeyin the summer of 1933 to come to the rescue of James Mat-tern, the American aviator stranded in the far northeasterncorner of the U .S.S.R. on his attempted solo flight around theworld, and piloted him safely across Bering Strait to Alaska .Airplanes have for a number of years participated regularly inhunting and fishing expeditions, locating seal herds and fishschools, guiding the boats through the ice, transporting youngherring and other fish from one breeding place to another, etc .Planes likewise accompany the annual Kara Sea trading expe-dition, which sails from European ports to the mouths of theOb and Yenisei Rivers on the Arctic Ocean . In 1933, for the

z66


first time in history, freight vessels, guided by an airplane,made a journey to the mouth of the Lena River, sailingthrough areas as yet uncharted . The exploits of Soviet aviatorsin effecting the rescues, early in 1934, of the 104 members ofthe "Cheliuskin" expedition marooned in the Arctic ice, at-tracted world-wide attention .

Among the many other diverse uses to which Soviet aviationis applied is aerial photography. Aerial surveys in 1934 coveredan area of 323,000 sq. km ., ten times as great as in 1928 .Aerial photography has proven especially valuable in carto-graphic work in connection with the planning of new economicregions . Since 1931 this branch of aviation work has beenplaced under the jurisdiction of the Chief Geodetic Survey .

In the field of agriculture and forestry Soviet aviation hasrecorded noteworthy achievements . This branch of aviationwork was first undertaken during the period of the firstFive-Year Plan . The program outlined for five years wasexceeded in three and one-half years . The principal servicesare : airplane sowing, destruction of pests, photographicsurveys, preventing and extinguishing forest fires, transporton large state and collective farms, rush delivery of spareparts for tractors, air mail service for sowing and harvestingcorrespondence, etc . Airplanes used on agricultural servicesflew a total of 46,000 hours in 1933 as against 12,000 in1932 . In 1934 this was increased to 90,000 hours .

In 1932 over 1o million hectares of forests were patrolledby airplanes in combating fires, 429,000 hectares of farm andforest land were cleared of injurious pests by airplane dusting,and 58,000 hectares of land were sown from the air . In 1 933the patrolled forest area amounted to 23 million hectares andsowing increased to 138,000 hectares. The area cleared ofplant pests by means of chemicals was also enlarged . Airplaneshave also been used effectively in fighting early frosts by spread-


ing smoke clouds over planted areas, particularly orchards andvegetable gardens. First experiments have been made in apply-ing mineral fertilizers by air. In 1933 some of the largest stategrain farms were allotted airplanes for their exclusive use theyear round.

The agricultural air fleet has recently assumed the task offighting the malarial mosquito . In 1934 the larvae of malarialmosquitoes were destroyed over a water surface of 1,358,000hectares.

Aviation Industry, Dirigibles, Gliders and StratostatsPrior to 1928 Soviet aviation depended largely on foreign

airplanes and motors. Domestic manufacture of airplanes,motors, and aviation equipment was established during the firstFive-Year Plan period . At the present time practically allplanes in service on Soviet airlines are of domestic make . Theproduction of airplane motors, both air and water-cooled, hasbeen organized, and motors up to 700 hp. are now being built.All types of modern planes for civil and defensive uses are nowmanufactured in the U .S .S.R ., including the following newtypes : the all-metal, five-motor, 36-passenger monoplane,ANT-14 ; the all-steel, electrically welded planes, Stal-2,Stal-3, Stal-5, and Stal-6 ; tailless planes, amphibians, auto-giros, gliders, etc . Important research and experimental workin airplane construction is carried on at three aviation institutes .The foremost of these is the Central Aero-HydrodynamicsInstitute (TSAGI) in Moscow .

During the past seven or eight years the United States hasexported to the U .S.S.R. airplane engines and parts to a valueof from $155,000 to $535,000 annually . Various commissionsof Soviet aviation experts have visited the United States fromtime to time in recent years to study the organization of Ameri-can airlines and of the aviation industry . In 1933 a contractwas concluded between Glavaviaprom (The United Aviation

268


Industry) and the Curtiss-Wright Airplane Corporation pro-viding for the technical assistance of the latter company in thedesign and manufacture of airplane engines in the U.S .S.R .

A special trust for dirigible construction was organized in1931, since which date several airships have been designed,built and tested with success. Five of these, four non-rigidand one semi-rigid, are small experimental ships ranging from2,150 to 6,8oo cu . meters. A semi-rigid airship of 20,000cu. meters was recently completed and a dirigible of 50,000cu. meters is being designed. Umberto Nobile, former com-mander of the Italia, is serving as consultant for the Sovietdirigible construction trust .

The growth of civil aviation in the U .S .S.R. has necessitatedthe training of many qualified pilots, mechanics, instructors,etc. There are more than a dozen training schools in the SovietUnion, where skilled airmen are trained . Interest in aviationis becoming widespread among the population . Aviation clubsand glider schools have been organized in many towns, andglider meets have been held from time to time at which severalworld records in glider flying have been broken .

In May and June, 1934, several successful flights weremade by "aerial trains" consisting of a plane towing two orthree gliders. The longest was from Moscow to Koktebel, inthe Crimea, a distance of 1,280 kilometers which was coveredin 11 / hours. Plans are being worked out for the commercialdevelopment of air routes using glider trains .

Through an organization known as "Osoaviakhim" (Unionof Societies of Friends of Defense and Aviation and ChemicalDevelopment), with a membership of many millions, thegeneral population has contributed funds for the building ofscores of airplanes. Special interest was taken in the construc-tion of a huge, 8-motor, 63-passenger airplane, named afterMaxim Gorky, which was destroyed in May, 1935, after a


small plane collided with it in midair. It was used for educa-tional purposes and had its own printing plant, broadcastingequipment and motion picture projector. The plane's motorshad a capacity of 7,000 hp. and its weight was 43 tons. It wasconstructed and equipped almost entirely with domestic ma-terials. A number of successful trial flights were made in

1934. Its fuel capacity permitted a range of 2,000 km . Afterthe catastrophe it was announced by government officials thatseveral new planes of similar design were to be constructed .

In 1933 the stratostat "U.S.S.R.", which was of Sovietdesign and manufacture, reported reaching an altitude ofig,ooo meters (60,352 ft .), as against the previous worldrecord of 16,200 meters reached by the Belgium physicist, Pro-fessor Piccard . During the flight of the Soviet stratostat, whichtook place September 30, 1933, constant radio connection withthe earth was maintained and important scientific observationsrecorded. In January, 1934, a flight by a second Sovietstratostat, the "Osoaviakhim," ended in the destruction of theballoon and crew after the record height of 70,000 feet wasreported to have been reached . Further researches are beingmade with the objective of determining the feasibility of es-tablishing super-speed air routes in the higher atmosphericstrata .

During the second Five-Year Plan Soviet civil aviation isscheduled to record rapid progress along the lines outlinedabove and in addition new forms of service are to be devel-oped. The length of through airlines is to be increased to85,ooo kilometers in 1937 as compared with 32,000 in 1932 .Local lines are expected to expand to 35,000 kilometers. Thenumber of passengers carried in 1937 (655,000), theamount of mail (68,500 tons), and of freight (26,500 tons)are scheduled to increase from 25 to over 150 times as com-pared with 1932 .

270


COMMUNICATIONS

The industrial development of the country, the opening upof new centers, and the growth of outlying regions have re-sulted in a great expansion in all branches of communication-post, telegraph, telephone and radio . The greatest progresswas made during the period of the first Five-Year Plan . Thisplan called for investments in the communication services of327 million rubles during five years ; actually 565 millionrubles, or more than half as much again, were invested in fourand one-quarter years . In 1933 investments totaled 202 mil-lion rubles .

The number of post offices in 1913 in the territory of thepresent-day U .S .S.R. amounted in all to 12,38o . By 1928there were 15,o63, and by the end of 1934-47900 . Duringthe four and one-quarter years of the first Five-Year Plan 20 .7billion letters and parcels were handled by the postal service,exceeding the schedule for five years by 40 per cent . Thenumber of pieces handled in 1932, 6 .3 billion, was more thanthree times the total in 1928 and almost five times the 1913figure. In 1934 the number of pieces sent by mail totaled 6 .5billion, including 1 .4 billion pieces of correspondence and 5 .1billion newspapers, periodicals, etc .

In 1913 there were about 261,ooo kilometers of mailroutes; in 1932-over one million, or four times the pre-war figure. All manner of transport is used for the delivery ofmail-not only the automobile and airplane but the peasant cartand, in the far north, the reindeer sleigh . In prewar Russiaabout 6o per cent of the village settlements are said to havehad no postal service . Now mail is delivered regularly in therural districts, many of the larger villages and most state farmsand machine-tractor stations having daily delivery. On Jan-uary 1, 1934, there were 105,000 village mail carriers, overfive times as many as there were five years previously . The


development of postal service in outlying regions and nationalrepublics has been especially rapid .

Telegraph and Telephone

The total length of interurban telegraph and telephone linesin 1934 reached 1,870,000 km ., as compared with 503,000km. in 1913 and 890,000 km. in 1928. In 1932 the averagenumber of telegrams sent per inhabitant was 2.5 times as greatas in 1913. The number of telegrams sent by all stationstotaled 79 million in 1934 as against 53 million in 1930 .Direct telegraphic wire service is maintained between Moscowand Vladivostok, a distance of 9,500 km .

The telephone network of prewar Russia was extremelyantiquated, consisting of 242,000 telephones of an old-fash-ioned type. By the end of 1932 this number was doubled(522,000), mostly of modern types. Automatic telephonestations have been opened in a number of the larger towns . In1932 there were 12 such stations with 77,600 telephones, andin 1933 and 1934 many additional stations were opened,totaling 47 by October, 1934 . At the end of 1934 the capacityof automatic stations was 162,ooo numbers . The total capacityof urban telephone stations rose from 492,300 numbers atthe end of 1932 to 636,000 at the end of 1934, while thenumber of subscribers increased from 415,6oo to 541,000 .In 1934 interurban telephone calls numbered 28 million,more than double the 1928 figure (13 .2 million) .

Before the war the longest telephone connections were :Moscow-Leningrad (650 km .) and Moscow-Kharkov (780km.) . Now long-distance calls may be made over thousandsof kilometers, as, for instance, between Leningrad and Baku(3,350 km.) or Moscow and Stalinsk, West Siberia (5,400km.) . In the summer of 1934 direct telephone connectionswere established between Leningrad-London, Moscow-Parisand Leningrad-Paris,

272


Telephone service is gradually being extended to the ruraldistricts. During the first Five-Year Plan the number oftelephones installed in villages rose from 19,300 to 40,100,exceeding the program by 78 per cent. The percentage ofvillage Soviets having telephone service increased from 11 .7in 1929 to 37 .2 in 1932 .

Radio

Rapid progress has been recorded in the field of radio. In1924 the first radio broadcasting station was opened . Thenumber of central broadcasting stations by the end of 1934totaled 67 with a capacity of i,6oo kw., as compared with23 in 1928, with a capacity of 126 kw . Early in 1933 theNoginsk station, near Moscow, of 500 kw. capacity, one ofthe largest and best equipped broadcasting stations in the world,began operations. Its programs are clearly received as far awayas Novosibirsk, some 3,500 km . distant . It is entirely of Sovietdesign. Besides this there are five stations of 100 kw. capacity .

The number of radio receiving "points" rose from 348,000in 1928 to 2 .3 million in 1934 . Many of the receiving pointsserve workers' clubs, village reading-rooms, dormitories, orarmy barracks . The total number of radio listeners in 1932was estimated at from 1o to 12 million persons. Programs aregiven in more than 6o different languages, so that the peoplesof the minor nationalities may listen in to songs and talks intheir native tongues .

There has been developed an extensive system of local ama-teur stations, set up at large industrial plants and on many stateand collective farms. These stations are operated for the mostpart by local volunteers, and broadcast local news, amateur con-certs, etc ., to listeners in their immediate vicinity . They alsotransmit or relay programs from the central broadcasting sta-tions, and on occasion send out some special program of their


own through the central stations. The number of such localstations increased from 27 in 1928 to over 3,000 by the endof 1932 .

The largest proportion of the broadcasting period (about6o per cent) is devoted to musical and literary programs . Theremaining programs are devoted mainly to news and educa-tional topics. There are special programs for young people,peasants, the Red Army, the minor nationalities, and othergroups of the population .

Special radio broadcasting of correspondence courses hasbeen organized in recent years. About 125,000 radio studypoints have been established for this purpose .

The development of a growing network of ultra short-wavetransmitters has provided radio connection between Mos-cow and all regional and republican centers, even those mostdistant, such as the Ural Region, Yakutia, Kazakstan, etc .These centers are, in turn, connected with the district centers,thereby facilitating the transmission of various types of officialinformation. The number of district receiving stations in-creased during the first Five-Year Plan period from 150 to2,500 .

Ten large radio-telegraph centers have been organized inMoscow, Tashkent, Alma-Ata, Khabarovsk, Irkutsk, Novo-sibirsk, Sverdlovsk, Leningrad, Tiflis, and Baku . The Moscowradio-telegraph center is the fourth largest in the world .Radio-telephone connections have been established between Mos-cow and Sverdlovsk, Tashkent, and Irkutsk (East Siberia) . Thelatter city is over 5,000 km. distant from Moscow . The con-versations are transmitted the entire distance by radio wavesand only at the end points are taken over by the telephone sys-tem. It is planned to use this method in future for all long-distance telephone communications, thereby saving the expenseof erecting telephone poles and wires to far-distant points .


The number of interurban telegraph-telephone transmittersincreased from 207 in 1933 to 243 in 1934, with a capacityof 1,186 kw . The number of short-wave transmitters on localnetworks rose from 415 to 470, with a capacity of 4o kw .

A photo-telephonic line was established between Moscowand Tashkent in February, 1934 . This line, of 3,328 km .,is the first such line in the U .S .S .R. There are now about 30television broadcasting points .

Construction of a radio studio center in Moscow, simi-lar to the Radio City in New York, was begun in 1934 . It isto be a 22-story skyscraper with 29 broadcasting studios, andwill house a radio theatre seating 2,000 . Soviet radio commis-sions have visited the United States in the past few years tomake studies of the most recent radio developments . In 1930direct radio communication was established for the first timebetween New York and Moscow . The Soviet radio administra-tion co-operates with the Radio Corporation of America in themaintenance of this service .

Beginning with • April, 1934, a series of exchange broad-casts was inaugurated between New York and Moscow, thefirst of their kind . In the United States these are distributedover the networks of the National and Columbia Broadcastingsystems. The programs are broadcast on wave lengths of 50and 25 meters (6,ooo and 12,000 kilocycles) .

Despite the progress recorded in recent years the communi-cations system is far from adequate to meet the requirementsof the national economy, and the second Five-Year Plan callsfor further development of all forms of communication, par-ticularly radio, as well as basic reconstruction of the existingsystem. The combined utilization of wire and radio commu-nication is to be greatly extended . Direct telegraph and tele-phone connections are to be established between Moscow andall the principal cities and industrial enterprises in the country


as well as between the chief centers within the respective repub-lics and regions.

The number of post offices is to be increased to 70,500, asagainst 43,643 in 1932, and the length of routes correspond-ingly. The length of local and interurban telephone and tele-graph lines is scheduled to total 3,830,000 kilometers by 1 9372V2 times that of 1932 . The number of telephones is to showa corresponding growth, the figure for 1937 being set at1,224,000 phones. In particular, the number of rural phonesis expected to increase sixfold (254,000 in 1937) and auto-matic phones likewise (500,000 in 1937) . The number oftelephone subscribers in cities is planned to increase from 415,-6oo in 1932 to 820,000 in 1937 .

It is planned to increase the number of radio broadcastingstations to 88 (as against 57 in 1932) with a capacity of 2,194kw. (1,502 in 1932) . The output of tube-receiving sets isscheduled to total 700,000 in 1937 as compared with 29,300in 1932 and 324,000 in 1934 . The number of long-distanceradio transmission installations connected with the telegraph-telephone systems is to grow from 73 in 1932 to 294 in 1 937,with a capacity of 3,411 kw .

Total capital investments for the five years are set at 1,679million rubles, almost three times those of the preceding period .The basic capital in the communications systems is scheduledto total 2 .o billion rubles in 1937 as compared with 721 mil-lion in 1932 and 431 million in 1928 .

X.

MUNICIPAL CONSTRUCTION

In prewar Russia, of 1,063 towns of over io,ooo populationscarcely a fifth had water supply systems, only i 9 had sewagesystems, and 35 street car services . Not over 15 per cent of thetowns had electric lights ; the remainder depended upon kero-sene lamps. The few paved streets were mainly cobblestone .Even in Moscow and Leningrad less than half of the streetswere paved . During the years of civil war and interventionmany thousands of buildings were destroyed, reducing thehousing space by at least 15 per cent. It is estimated that suchlosses amounted to over two billion rubles, while damages tomunicipal services totaled at least 700 million rubles. As aresult, the country's municipal economy was at an extremelylow level .

The Soviet Government on assuming power had nationalizedland, city dwellings, municipal structures and services, andallotted the available dwelling space among the inhabitants . Inthe period prior to the introduction of the first Five-Year Plan,when the bulk of the country's funds and efforts were beingexpended for the restoration of industry and agriculture, mu-nicipal improvements were limited largely to restoring servicesto normal operation and to repairing dwellings and municipalstructures. In the years 1924-1928 about 6oo million rubleswere expended on municipal services, 66o million rubles onrepairing dwellings, and 1 .3 billion rubles on new housing con-struction. The latter sum provided for about 7 million squaremeters of new housing space, an amount far from adequate to276

MUNICIPAL CONSTRUCTION 277

meet the needs of an urban population which was growing atthe rate of over one million persons a year . Rent was based onearnings and could not exceed io per cent of the latter .

As the industrialization program of the first Five-Year Plangot under way, the urban population increased at an unprece-dented rate-over two million a year . Prior to 1914 the influxof population into the cities did not average more than 300;000 annually. From 1928 to 1933 the urban population rosefrom 27 .6 to 39 .7 million, a gain of 44 per cent . Such agrowth in urban population necessitated a tremendous expan-sion in housing construction . During the course of the fiveyears about five billion rubles was expended (chiefly by stateorganizations; also by housing co-operatives) in new housingand over 29 million square meters of new dwelling space weremade available . This brought the total amount of housing incities and industrial centers to 191 .5 million square meters. Inthe entire period from 1917 to 1928 only ten million squaremeters of new housing had been made available . The largestshare of the new housing went for workers in the basic indus-tries, and accommodations were provided for more than fivemillion persons. In 1934 the available housing area increasedto 197.3 million square meters; 150,000 new apartments wereprovided during the year.

A feature of housing development in recent years has beenthe growth of cooperatives, both for the renting and construc-tion of dwellings. The number of members of house-renters'cooperatives increased from 935,000 in 1928 to 2,860,000 in1933, the housing area occupied-from 24 .5 to 49 .6 millionsquare meters, and the share capital-from 4 .1 to 81 millionrubles. In 1933 these organizations expended I i 8,ooo,ooorubles for major repairs . The housing construction cooperativeshad a total of 589,000 members in 1934, 41 per cent of whichwere occupying their own apartments . The paid up capital

278


on January I, 1934 amounted to 224,000,000 rubles (381rubles per member) . In the past six years these cooperativesput up an average of 6oo,ooo sq . m. of housing per year .

Municipal Services

During the first Five-Year Plan period a total of 1 .9 billionrubles were invested in municipal services. Of this total over400 million rubles went for water and sewage systems, about120 million rubles for public baths and mechanized laundries ;420 million rubles for city transport ; 240 million rubles forpower supply; and about 6oo million rubles for street paving,parks, fire protection, etc . These services have been providednot only in the European section of the U .S .S.R. but also insome of the larger towns of Siberia, Transcaucasia and CentralAsia. The progress recorded during the period 1928-1934 asregards the principal municipal services is shown in the follow-ing table :

1928 1932 1933 1934(preliminary)

I . Water Supply SystemsNumber of cities with water

systems

293 369 375 3 8 0Number of buildings served

(thous.)

128.5 182 .6 - -Length of water conduits

10,570 10,715 11,4208,z88(km.)Amount supplied annually

585 .o 697 .5 -(m ill. cu . meters)

296.5

II. Sewage Systems

55 58 64Number of cities with sew-

age systems 35No. of buildings served

(thous .) 30 .5 52 .1 - -Length of conduits (km .) 1,831 .8 2,596 3,500 3,900III . Public BathsNumber 737 1,082 1,288 1,500Capacity (persons) 110,000 140,000 155,zoo 210,000

In 1933 and 1934 capital investments in municipal utilitiestotaled two billion rubles and resulted in a considerable in-crease in services. The number of cities with water-supplysystems was increased by I I and with sewage systems by nine .The length of water and sewer conduits was expanded by 85oand 1,304 km., respectively . Street car lines were opened in13 cities and the total number of cars increased by 1,605 . Thenumber of municipal laundries rose from 65 in 1933 to 115in 1 934 .

In pre-war Russia only 15 or 2o per cent of the towns hadelectricity; now go per cent have electric supply and streetlighting has greatly improved. Gas supply in prewar Russia wasconfined to a few cities, and this service was completely de-stroyed during the civil war. The gas plants in Moscow, Len-ingrad, Kharkov, Odessa and Baku have now been completelyrestored and considerably expanded . The consumption of gasfor domestic needs doubled during the first Five-Year Plan .

The number of cities with municipal electric stations totaled620 in 1933 as against 178 in 1913 . The installed capacityof such stations amounted to 292,000 kw. in 1934 (an in-crease of 18 per cent over 1 933)

There has been an even more rapid expansion of centralheating (thermo-electric) plants . The first such station was

MUNICIPAL CONSTRUCTION 279

1928 1932 1933 1934

IV. Street-car ServiceNumber of cities 39 5o 57

(preliminary)

63Number of street-cars 4,800 7,795 8,78z 9,400Passengers carried (mill.) 1,640 5,200 5,260 -V. Bus ServiceNumber of cities 40 117 130 -Number of buses 466 1,455 - 1,500Passengers carried (mill .) 11 9 . 5 305 375 -VI. Electric SupplyElectricity consumed for do-

mestic needs (mill . kw: h .) 941 1,760 - -

280


built in 1924 ; by 1930 there were 40 plants with a capacityof 200,000 kw. and by 1934, 65 stations totaling 900,000 kw .The network of pipelines increased from 2o kilometers in 1931to 200 km. in 1934 . The Berezniki thermo-electric centralheating station, of 93,000 kw., is rated as one of the largestplants of its kind in the world .

Much progress has been made in recent years in streetpaving, especially in Moscow, Leningrad, Rostov, Sverdlovskand Ivanovo. A total of 1o million square meters of streetswere paved during the first Five-Year Plan period, while an-other six million square meters were repaved . During thesefour years seven times as much street paving was done in Mos-cow as in the whole previous history of the city . In 1932 workwas started on Moscow's subway, the first section (12 km.)of which was completed in February, 1935 . The opening ofthe subway will ease the city's transport congestion, which hascontinued to be a serious problem, despite the growth of street-car and bus services . The number of persons employed on itreached at one time a total of 70,000 . Work on the secondsection, 22 km. in length, commenced early in 1 935 .

In recent years much work has been accomplished in clean-ing the cities, planting parks, repairing the buildings and im-proving the general appearance of the streets. Thousands ofstreet committees are carrying on various activities in connec-tion with the beautifying of towns, sanitation measures, etc .

Reconstruction o f Old Towns and Building o f New Cities

The planned allocation of industry-the policy of bringingindustry in close proximity to sources of raw material and ofstimulating the economic development of outlying regions andareas inhabited by minor nationalities-has involved a planneddistribution of population . City planning in the Soviet Unionembraces not only the reconstruction and future development


281

of the old industrial centers . In the case of districts (such asthe Urals, Kuzbas and Kola Peninsula) where new industrialcenters (Magnitogorsk, Stalinsk, Khibinogorsk) have arisen,it involves the conversion of small settlements into moderncities and even of building new cities on barren land . A num-ber of scientific institutes specialize in this work, one of themost important being the State Institute for City Planning ofthe R .S.F .S .R. (Giprogor), which has over i,ooo specialistson its staff. A number of foreign experts have been en-gaged for this work . In 1934, about 240 cities and industrialsettlements in the R .S.F.S.R. were included in the work of thecity planning organizations . There are five higher educationalinstitutions, 33 secondary technical schools and other schoolsdevoted to the training of experts in municipal economy .

Among the many cities which have undergone extensive re-construction in recent years are : Moscow, Leningrad, Kharkov,Baku, Cheliabinsk, Sverdlovsk, Stalingrad, Novosibirsk, Ivan-ovo, Rostov, Gorky, Nizhni Tagil, Grozny and many townsin the Donetz Basin . The population of some of these townshas doubled or even more than trebled since prewar times, thegreatest part growth having taken place since 1928 .

Of the new cities a few of the more important are :

Stalinsk-largest of the many towns constructed in con-nection with the development of the vast Ural-Kuznetz indus-trial combine . Its population already numbers about 250,000 .It has water and sewage systems, central heating station, busand street-car service, public baths and laundries, clubs, the-aters, hospitals, kitchen factories, etc .

Bolshoye Zaporozhye-new industrial center built at the siteof the Dnieper power plant, where formerly the tiny hamlet,Kichkas, was situated . Its population now exceeds the 200,000mark set for 1937 . Hundreds of apartments have been con-structed with all modern conveniences-water and sewage

282


systems, electricity, central heating. Sixteen parks cover an areaof 26 hectares. A street-car line connects the new city withthe old Zaporozhye .

Kirovsk (formerly Khibinogorsk)-a town on the KolaPeninsula built in connection with the development of theapatite deposits. Construction of the city was begun in 1929 ;the population in 1933 was 40,000 .

Stalinabad-formerly a hamlet (Dyushambe) of 6oo in-habitants; now the capital of the Tadzhik S.S.R ., with a pop-ulation of 6o,ooo . It has new modern apartment houses, pavedstreets, a water system, bus service, hospitals, theatres, etc.

Kounrad -new town in Kazakstan, of 50,000 inhabitants,being built in connection with the new copper smelter onLake Balkhash. In 1932 alone 24 million rubles were ex-pended on municipal construction work at Kounrad .

Other new towns built during the Soviet regime, all ofwhich have populations of over 25,000 persons, include :Magnitogorsk, which reached a population of 230,000 in 1 933,Berezniky (Urals), Cheremkhovo (East Siberia), Karaganda(Kazakstan), Igarka (a new port town at the mouth of theYenisei), Kramatorsk (Ukraine), Frunze (administrative cen-ter of Kirghizia), Stalinogorsk (formerly Bobriky), etc . InJuly 1935 a decree was issued by the Council of People's Com-missars providing for a basic reconstruction of the city ofMoscow during the next ten years .

As a result of the great expansion of municipal construc-tion, the total number of towns with a population of over10,000 had reached 1,300 by the end of 1932, as against the1,063 in prewar Russia, an increase of well over 200 . Thenumber of cities with a population of over ioo,ooo quad-rupled, rising from sixteen in 1914 to 65 at the end of 1 933 .Despite the large amount of housing construction there is stillan acute shortage of dwelling space, especially in some of the


283

principal industrial centers, such as Moscow and Leningrad .Consequently, an even more extensive program of housingconstruction is under way during the present five-year period .

In cities and industrial centers a total of 66 million squaremeters of new housing space is to be made available during thefive years . The investments for this purpose are to total 12 .72billion rubles, as against 4 .04 billion in the first Five-YearPlan. The available housing fund is to increase from 185 to246 million square meters (deducting that put out of use) . Itis expected that the city population will increase by six million(45 million at the end of 1937) and that the average housingspace per capita will expand from 4 .78 to 5 .47 square meters .The number of cities with water supply is to increase to 440(from 369 in 1932), and the per capita daily norm from 63to 95 liters. Sewer systems are to be built in 70 cities, bringingthe total to 125 . The number of mechanized laundries is to beincreased from 77 to 70o and the proportion of city popula-tion served by them from 1 .9 to 13 per cent . Public baths areto increase in number from 1,082 to 2,634 and tramways willbe introduced in 20 cities . In all, investments in municipalservices are to total seven billion rubles, almost four times thoseof the preceding period .

XI.

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U.S.S.R .

Principles and Policies

THE foreign trade policy of the Soviet Union was character-ized by Commissar for Foreign Affairs Litvinoff in a statementissued on April 2 3, 1933, as follows :

"Our foreign trade policy is based on firm foundationswhich have not been altered since the beginning of our foreigntrade and which we have no intention of changing . This policyis based on : i) Economic intercourse between the countries ofthe world, and particularly between major powers, irrespectiveof their social-political systems ; 2) Advantages accruing toeach country from trade with other countries, and confidencebetween contracting parties based on real solvency proven bythe fulfillment of commercial and financial obligations ; 3)The absence of political upheavals in the relations betweentrading countries as a condition for the stability of trade rela-tions ; 4) The liberty for official representatives of tradingcountries to fulfill the necessary formal functions connectedwith trade; 5) Lawful intercourse between the representativesof governments and the citizens of the trading countries ; 6 )The submission of foreigners to the jurisdiction of countrieswhere they are resident ."

The foreign trade of the Soviet Union is carried on in ac-cordance with a program which is an integral part of the gen-eral plan of economic development . Its purpose is to further theinterests of national construction by supplying those products,chiefly equipment and raw and semi-manufactured materials,which the development of the country demands . For thisreason, the leading part in foreign trade is assigned to imports,the export of goods serving only as a means for the fulfillmentof the import program . It is to the extent only that the284


285

U.S.S.R. requires imported goods that its internal resourcesare utilized for export .

All foreign trade operations in the U .S .S.R . are a govern-ment monopoly regulated through the Commissariat for For-eign Trade . The latter does not handle the sales and purchaseson the foreign market directly, its role being confined to con-trolling their volume and general character . This is accom-plished by means of the plan of imports and exports drawn upby the Commissariat and by a system of special licenses .

In fixing the program for foreign trade the planning organsare guided primarily, on the one hand, by the needs of thenational economy for imported products and, on the other hand,by the available surplus of exportable goods . They take intoaccount also the credits received and all other "invisible" itemsof international payment, such as receipts from remittances andtourists' expenditures .

After estimating the amount of foreign currency which willbe received during the year through the export of Soviet pro-ducts and from other sources, provision is made to cover the pay-ments due on credits received in previous years, and the volumeof imports for the coming year is set on the basis of this re-mainder, with allowance made for credits to become availableduring the year. Purchases in excess of this figure are madeonly if further credits are received. A study of prices andcredits in foreign markets for products which the Soviet Unionis interested in importing aids in determining the maximumquantities of the various classes of goods which can be broughtin during the year. Quotas are established for the variousbranches of industry, agriculture, transportation, etc ., in ac-cordance with their requirements and with the policy of thegovernment in this respect .

The actual export and import operations are carried on bya series of state-owned corporations, each serving a particularbranch of the national economy or specializing in certain types

z86


of products. Programs are assigned to the various importingorganizations which specify the maximum amount of expendi-tures and the period of payments . Similarly, export organiza-tions make shipments in accordance with a predetermined plan .Through this system the Commissariat for Foreign Trade con-trols export and import transactions with a view to assuringpayment in accordance with the obligations undertaken andthat the operations are in accordance with the general plan offoreign trade .

The principal export and import organizations are listed be-low (the addresses given are all in Moscow, U.S.S.R.)

SOYUZPUSHNINA (Fur Syndicate) ; Address: Ul. Kirova 47 ;Imports: breeding animals ; Exports : animals for zoos, etc . ;many varieties of raw, dressed, dyed and natural furs andskins ; fur apparel (coats, furs, collars, trimmings, etc .) .

SOYUZPROMEXPORT (Industrial Export Corporation) ; Address :Ploshchad Revolutzii i ; Exports : chemicals (soda, inor-ganic and organic chemicals, naval stores, coal tar prod-ucts) ; rubber and asbestos products ; fat and oil products ;iron and manganese ores ; textiles ; miscellaneous indus-trial products .

MINERALSILICATEXPORT (Corporation for Export of Mineralsand Silicates) ; Address : Petrovka 3 ; Exports : silicates(china, porcelain, glassware, etc .), mineral building mate-rials, and miscellaneous minerals ; also matches .

TEKHNOPROMIMPORT (Technical Equipment Import Corpora-tion) ; Address : Proezd Khudozhestvennovo Teatra 2 ; Im-ports : machinery for the chemical, textile, shoe, printing,paper, food and building materials industries ; automobiles,farm implements, building equipment, roller bearings,office machinery, etc.

EXPORTLEN (Corporation for Export of Flax and Hemp Fiberand Manufactures) ; Address : B . Cherkassky per . 6/7 ; Ex-ports : flax and hemp .

RAZNOEXPORT (Corporation for Export of Miscellaneous Prod-ucts) ; Address : Ul. Kirova 47 ; Exports: casings, bristleshorsehair, wool, feathers, down, raw leather, leather goods,brushes, rags.


287

SOYUZMETIMPORT (Corporation for Import of Metals and Ex-port of Ores) ; Address : Ul. Kirova 47 ; Imports: iron,steel and ferro-alloys .

KOVERKUSTEXPORT (Corporation for Export of Rugs andHandicraft Products) ; Address : Ilyinka, 6 ; Exports : car-pets and rugs, wooden articles, lacquer ware, notions,footwear, musical instruments, sport accessories, preciousmetals and jewelry, cut stone, semi-precious stones, uten-sils, domestic articles and miscellaneous articles ; Imports :commercial diamonds .

AVTOEXPORT (Automobile Export Corporation) ; Address :Gogolevsky Bul. 8 ; Exports : motor cars and spare parts .

SOVAFGHANTORG (Corporation for Trade with Afghanistan) ;Address : Kuznetzky Most 22 .

SOVMONTUVTORG (Corporation for Trade with Mongolia andTannu-Tuva) ; Address : Kaliaevskaya 5 .

SOVSINTORG (Corporation for Trade with Sinkiang) ; Address :Ilyinka 6 .

STANKOIMPORT (Machine Tool Import Corporation) ; Address :Proezd Khudozhestvennovo Teatra 2 ; Imports : machinetools, small tools and measuring instruments .

MASHINOIMPORT (Machinery Import Corporation) ; Address :Miasnitzkaya 47 ; Imports: equipment for metallurgi-cal, mining and oil industries, power equipment, electricalapparatus, hoisting machinery, ships and ship equipment .

CENTROSOYUS (Central Union of Consumers' Co-operatives) ;Address : B . Cherkassky per . 15 ; Imports : colonial goods,groceries .

SOYUZINTORGKINO (Corporation for Import and Export ofMotion Pictures and Equipment) ; Address : MalyGnezdikovsky per . 7 .

MEZHDUNARODNAYA KNIGA (International Book Co.) ; Address :Kuznetzky Most I¢ ; Exports : books, magazines, news-papers, stationery supplies, etc . ; Imports: books, news-papers, magazines, typewriters, etc.

SOVIET PHILATELIC ASSOCIATION ; Address : Nastisinsky per . 3 ;Exports : postage stamps and coins.

SOVFRAKHT (Corporation for Chartering of Foreign Ships) ;Address : Nikolskaya 5 .

288


EXPORTLES (Timber Export Company) ; Address : PloshchadRevolutzii 1/3 ; Exports : lumber, pulpwood, plywood,veneers, etc .

SOYUZNEFTEXPORT (Corporation for Export of Oil Products) ;Address: Kaliaevskaya 5 .

EXPORTKHLEB (Grain Products Export Corporation) ; Address :Ulitza Gorkovo i/2 ; Exports: grain products, oilcakesand meals, oilseeds and meat products .

SOYUZUGLEXPORT (Corporation for Export of Coal) ; Address :Gorky 26 .

RYBOPLODOEXPORT (Fish and Fruit Export Corporation) ;Address: Ulitza Gorkovo 20/1 ; Exports : fish andcaviar ; Imports : breeding fish.

TEXTILIMPORT (Textile Import Corporation) ; Address : ProezdKhudozhestvennovo Teatra 2 ; Imports : raw textiles (jute,cotton, wool, etc.) ; non-ferrous metals (tin, lead, nickel,aluminum), and rubber.

TEKHNOEXPORT (Corporation for Export of Technical Prod-ucts) ; Address: B. Cherkassky per . 6 ; Exports: agriculturalmachinery, technical equipment, bicycles, etc .

LEKTEKHSYRIO (Crude Drug Corporation) ; Address: B. Dmi-trovka 23/8 ; Imports: flower seeds and seedlings ; Ex-ports : crude drugs, essential oils, seeds of essential oils,and pharmaceutical chemicals .

Ordinarily foreign trade is handled by the special corpora-

tions, which work on a commission basis through agreements

with the organizations producing export goods or purchasing

imported products abroad .Selling and purchasing operations abroad are handled by

trade delegations or by special corporations (such as the Am-

torg Trading Corporation) organized for this purpose . In most

of the countries which have normal relations with the U .S .S.R .

there have been established Soviet trade delegations which super-

vise the work of the various trade organizations in those coun-

tries. The trade delegations are official representatives of the

Soviet Government in all matters pertaining to foreign trade .

They supervise and direct all foreign trade operations in the

country to which they are sent ; regulate the conditions under

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U .S.S.R .

289

which trade agreements and contracts by various Soviet organ-izations with foreign firms are made ; ratify all such agree-ments and contracts ; supervise the fulfillment of all contractualobligations entered into by Soviet organizations ; conduct allnegotiations for the investment of foreign capital in theU.S.S.R . ; guarantee in specified instances the payment forgoods and services rendered . The trade representatives areempowered to appear as plaintiffs in the courts of the Countryto which they are sent ; they may appear as defendants only insuch suits as may arise out of specific contracts or obligationsentered into by the delegation, and only in those countrieswith which the U .S .S.R . has entered into a specific agreementor to which the U .S .S.R . has made a statement permittingthe trade delegation to be made defendant in an action in thecourts of the country . The trade delegations are under thesupervision of the Commissariat for Foreign Trade . The listand addresses of the principal trade delegations are as follows :TRADE REPRESENTATIONS OF THE U .S .S .R. ABROADAUSTRIA, Seitzerstrasse 2-4, Vienna I .CZECHOSLOVAKIA, Lutzowowa nl . 21, Prague I I .DENMARK, Vestre-Boulevard 4, Copenhagen .ESTONIA, Pikk 19, Tallinn .FINLAND, Albertinkatu 25, Helsingfors.FRANCE, 25 Rue de la Ville 1'Eveque, Paris.GERMANY, Lietzenburger Strasse i I, Berlin W. 15 .GREAT BRITAIN, Bush House, Aldwych Strand, London

W.C. 2 .

GREECE, Patission Str. 137, Athens .ITALY, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Milan .JAPAN, Azabuky Kotsai Tolo, Tokyo.LATVIA, Albertstreet i i, Riga .LITHUANIA, Laisves Alej a 6, Kaunas .MONGOLIA, Ulan-Bator.NORTHERN MANCHURIA, Kitaiskaia 217, Harbin .NORWAY, Tordenskjolds plasse 5-1, Oslo .PERSIA, Teheran.

290


POLAND, Marshalkovska 113, Warsaw.SWEDEN, Kungagatan 4-A, Stockholm .TANA-TUVA, Kizyl .TURKEY, Grande Rue de Pera, Soviet-han, Stamboul .

TRADE AGENCIES OF THE U .S .S .R. ABROADSINKIANG : Khorgos, Kuldzha .SINKIANG : Irkeshtan, Kashgar .SINKIANG : Bakhty, Chuguchak.AFGHANISTAN : Middle Asiatic Railway, Termes, Mazar and

Sherif .AFGHANISTAN : Kushka, Gerat .FOREIGN CORPORATIONS HANDLING SOVIET

FOREIGN TRADEARCOS, LTD ., Bush House, Aldwych, London W.C . 2, England .AMTORG TRADING CORPORATION, z61 Fifth Avenue, New

York, U .S .A .YUJAMTORG, Sarandi, 444, Montevideo, Uruguay .

The purchase order for foreign products usually originatesin the individual factory or trust . After being ratified by theofficers of this organization it is sent to one of the specializedimporting companies . The order is then checked as to its con-formity with the general import plan, after which a speciallicense is issued . In the meantime, inquiries have been sent tothe organizations in foreign countries asking for quotations .On the basis of these quotations, taking into consideration thefactors of credits, price, quality, delivery, etc ., the order is sentto one of the purchasing organizations for execution .

All payments by and to Soviet organizations for foreign tradeoperations are effected through the State Bank of the U .S .S.R .or through its subsidiary, the Bank for Foreign Trade . Thespecial organizations engaged in the export trade sell their for-eign currency to the State Bank . The Soviet currency receivedfrom the State Bank is used by the export organizations toeffect their payments to the producing organizations. Theorganizations in charge of the import trade purchase from the

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U.S .S.R .

291

State Bank the foreign currency required to cover the im-ports . The State Bank is the only bank in the Soviet Unionwhich handles foreign currency and the actual payments abroadare effected through its correspondents in various parts of the

world. The State Bank has deposits in a large number offoreign countries .

Volume of Trade

The decree introducing the state monopoly of foreign tradewas issued on April 27, 1918 . In the following two years theblockade by foreign countries made it impossible to carry ontrade to any appreciable extent . Only after the lifting of the

blockade in 1920 was foreign trade started on a more or lessnormal basis. In the seventeen years from 1918 to 1934 theSoviet Union imported foreign goods to the value of 8 .6 bil-

lion rubles ($4.4 billion at the old parity of the dollar) andexported Soviet products to the value of 7 .8 billion rubles ($4 .0billion), leaving an unfavorable balance for the entire periodof about 8oo million rubles .

From the beginning of Soviet foreign trade operations up to1930 there was a steady and rapid increase in the turnover .Exports rose from 82 million rubles in 1922 to 746 million in1927 and over a billion rubles in 1930. Imports went from270 million rubles in 1922 to 758 million in 1927 and morethan a billion rubles in 1930 and 1931 .

At their highest point, in 1930, Soviet exports (1,036 millionrubles) did not exceed 70 per cent of the prewar average(1,487 million rubles average for 1909-1913) . Since thattime, owing to the contraction of world markets, the drop inprices and the rapidly increasing requirements of the homemarket, exports have shown a steady decline, shipmentsamounting to 418 million rubles in 1934. Imports in 1930and 1931 were almost as great as before the war (averageof 1,082 million rubles in 1930 and 1931, and 1,140 million

292


from 1909 to 1913) . In 1932 imports dropped by more thana third and in 1933 and 1934 there were further drastic de-clines, receipts amounting to 232 million rubles in the latteryear .

While the value of exports and imports has shown a sharpdecline in the past few years this has not been the case as re-gards physical volume . Calculated at stable prices of 1926-27,exports in 1933 were actually 26 .4, and in 1 934, 3 .1 per centgreater than in 1928 . In 1932 imports were 44 .0 per centgreater and in 1 933, 24 .3 per cent less than in 1929 . Thetotal turnover in fixed prices showed a decline of only nineper cent from 1928 to 1933, whereas in value the drop was52 per cent.

The decline in exports as compared with the prewar figurehas been due largely to the great reduction in exports of grainand other foodstuffs which have been held in the country fordomestic consumption . In 1913 grain exports amounted invalue to 595 million rubles and made up 39 per cent of totalexports . In the peak years under the Soviet regime, 1930 and1931, they amounted to only from a quarter to a third of thatfigure. The reduction in exports necessitated a correspondingdrop in imports . In the twelve years 1923-1934 favorablebalances were recorded in six years and unfavorable balancesin six years .

The total turnover of Soviet foreign trade, as comparedwith the prewar trade, is given in the table below :YEAR

EXPORTS

IMPORTS

TURNOVER

BALANCE(in millions of rubles in prices of each year)

1909-19 1 3 (av .) 1,487 .2 1,140 .2 2,627 . 4 + 347 .01918 1 8 .1 105 .2 113 .3 - 97 .11919 1 0.1 3 .2 3 .3 - 3 .11920 1 1 .4 28 .7 30.1 - 27.31921 1 20 .2 210.7 230 .9 - 190.51922 1 81 .6 269 .8 351 .4 -,88.z1923 1 218 .0 143 .2 361 .2 + 74 .81924 1 337 .0 260.0 597 .0 + 77.01925 6o8 .8 826 .7 1,435 .0 -217.9

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U .S .S.R .

1 From 1918 to 1924 foreign trade totals were calculated only in prices of 1913 .

The decline in the foreign trade of the U .S .S.R . has beenless than that for the world as a whole . Whereas the totalforeign trade turnover of the 75 principal countries fell in1932 to 39 per cent and in 1933 to 35 per cent of the 1929total, the corresponding percentages for the Soviet Union were71 and 47. As regards exports the U .S .S.R. has increasedsomewhat its share of the world total since 1929 . Its share inworld exports rose from 1 .5 per cent in 1929 to 2 .0 in 1 934its share in world imports rose from 1 .3 per cent in 1929 to1 .5 per cent in 1933, declining again in 1934 to 1 .o per cent .As compared with before the war, however, the U .S .S.R . sharein world trade has declined a half, amounting to 1 .8 per centin 1933 and 1 .5 per cent in 1934 as compared with 3 .9per cent in 1913 .

SHARE TRADEOF U.S .S.R. IN WORLDEXPORTS

IMPORTS TURNOVER

293

Character o f Imports and Exports

During the revolution and the period of disorganization andfamine following it, large quantities of grain and other food

in per cen1913 4.2 3 .6 3 .91925 1 .0 1 .3 1 .21929 1 .5 1 .3 1 .41931 2.3 z .8 2 .51932 2.3 z .6 2 .41933 2.3 1 .5 1 .8

1934 2 .0 1 .0 1 .5

YEAR EXPORTS

IMPORTS

TURNOVER

BALANCE

(in millions of rubles in prices of each year)1gz6 724 .6 688 .7 1,413 .3 + 35.91927 745 .9 758 .1 1,504 .0 - 12.21928 803 .4 953 . 1 1,756 .5 -149-71929 923 . 7 88o .6 1,804 .3 + 43 .11930 1,036 .4 1,058.3 2,095 .2 - 21 .91931 811 .2 1,105 .0 1,916 .2 -293 .81932 574 . 9 698 .7 1,278 .9 - 123 .81933 495 .7 348.2 843 .9 + 147 .51934 418 .3 232 .4 650.7 +185.9


products were imported from other countries . In 1922, theSoviet Union started to bring in an increasingly large volumeof raw materials and semi-finished products, such as cotton,wool and hides, as well as various types of equipment andmachinery necessary for the restoration of light industry. Dur-ing the five years previous to 1928 raw materials and semi-finished products constituted 58 per cent and equipment 24per cent of the imports . In the period of the Five-Year Plan,larger quantities of equipment, especially for heavy industry,were purchased abroad. From 1929 to 1933 equipment madeup 50 per cent of total imports and raw and semi-finishedgoods 39 per cent . In the three years 1931-1933 equipmentmade up 6o per cent of all imports, as compared with 20per cent in the last five prewar years (1909-1913) .The importation of products of general consumption, which inprewar years made up about 22 per cent of the imports, includ-ing a considerable volume of luxuries, was reduced to eight percent of the total in 1 929-1 933 .

The following table shows the structure of importsin the five years 1929-1933 as compared with the last five pre-war years :

1909 -1913

1929-1933 2In mill . In per cent In mill . In per cent

2 Beginning with the fiscal year 1928-29 .

During the period of 16 years from 191 to 1933 importsof raw and semi-finished products totaled 3 .81 billion rubles,of equipment-3 .15 billion, consumers' goods-x .13 billion,and unclassified goods-345 million rubles . Producers' goodsmade up 83 per cent of the total imports.

rubles of total rubles of total

Total imports (annual average) 1,140 .2 100 .0 816 .4 100 .0I. Means of Production 8 23 . 5 72 .2 731 .6 89 .7

a) Raw and semi-finishedgoods 598 .1 52.4 321 .1 39 .3

b) Equipment 225 .4 19 .8 410 .5 50 .4II. Consumers' goods 248 .8 z1 .8 64.8 7 .9

III . Unclassified 67 .9 6.o 20 .0 2 .4

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U.S.S.R . 295

The character of exports has also undergone a markedchange since the years before the war. While tsarist Russia ex-ported mainly agricultural products and less than 30 per centof industrial goods, the latter in the past few years have madeup over 6o per cent of total exports and agricultural goods lessthan 40 per cent. Exports of grains, butter, eggs, flax, etc .,have dropped to a small part of the prewar ; on the otherhand, shipments of such commodities as oil, timber, furs, etc .,are considerably above the prewar .

The structure of exports during the past few years, ascompared with before the war, is shown in the table below :

1909-1913

1929-1933In mill . In per cent In mill. In per cent

In the past few years there has been also a tendency towardan increasing proportion of exports of finished or semi-finishedindustrial products, such as dressed furs, veneers, gasoline andtextiles . Products of manufacturing industries, which in I9o9-1913 constituted only seven per cent of Russian exports, in1928 made up 15 per cent and, in 1933, 27 per cent of thetotal . The proportion of finished goods in total exports in-creased from 28 per cent in 1913 to 56 per cent in 1 934 .

The list of export products has been increased from 50 toabout 8oo items within the past eight years, and a number ofexport items developed which did not exist in prewar Russia .Thus, both imports and exports reflect clearly the process ofindustrialization .Imports by Commodities

The change in the character of imports may be seen fromthe table on the next page giving the imports of 20 selecteditems during the past 12 years and the average for the lastfive prewar years :

rubles rublesTotal Exports (annual average) 1,487 .2 100 .0 768 .4 100 .0

Agricultural Products 1,050 .6 70 .6 292 .4 38 .0Industrial Products 436 .6 29 .4 476 .0 62 .0

3 Not reported separately .* 1913 figures .t 1928-29 figures .

Included in industrial machinery.

SOVIET IMPORTS BY COMMODITIES (to Selected Items)(In r,ooo Rubles)

AVERAGE N10

1909-13 1921-2 1922-3 1923-4 1924- 5 1925-6 r9z6-7 1927-8 1929

1930 1931 1932 1933 1934

iTRubber, raw 33,241 3,498 7,878 8,763 8,408 26,236 23,555 24,099 11,454 13,691 13,876 7,698 6,385 16,488

Tanning materials 6,7 , 2

547 2,259 3,076 8,82.0 11,454 12,251 15,721 6,649

6,85o 371 197 177 s

Paints and dyes 13,772 1,396 5,694 9,368 19,649 16,920 11,114 11,743 6,923

3,846 1,222 1,097 932 2,089

Ferrous metals 8,392 2,775

304 6o, 3,785 10,359 11,299 16,758 33,726 70,777 124,560 77,954 47,500 25,992

xNonferrous metals 18,875 29,666 58,032 59,552 53,967 49,269 29,268 21,732 21,825Iron and steel products

30,397 x,637 3,78017,309 10,281 6,12q

9,4996,989 5,395 12,274

45,44422,831 48,633 29,330 61,694 90,870 43,003 28,566 17,217

z

Industrial machinery andequipment ,6,205 28,467 43,074 71,705 90,315 86,159 173,580 240,713 215,958 87,784

d39,231

076,412 40,035 xz,6o,Industrial machinery parts tx,95z 1,807 3,394 1,735 12,627 18,712 13,846 28,196 24,069 77,047 90,447 59,789 21,472 :

0Agricultural machinery and

parts 3,276 21,489 32,072 16,743 14 i 227 28,400 38,327 7.6,287 839 124

Pi43

040,523 5,296 2,569Tractors and parts 124 750 65, 8,841 12,252 8,747 10,460 34,847 71,565 79,627 293 2,387 87

e17

Automobiles, motorcyclesbicyles and parts 11,473 2,633 2,803 z,86, 6,921 14,399 7,781 9,732 16,032 27,245 37,556 8,296 3,312

H1,753

xSeagoing vessels 3,752

13 65 87 145 72 241 5,700 10,5 5z

15,112 10,602 8,108 4,029 2,855Precision instruments and

apparatus 6,743 1,346 2,025 2,074 7,92.1 11,198 8,585 16,021 16,658 13,931 14,878 t2,zo6 5,666Cn

3,782

0Electrical apparatus and

appliances 14,908 5,283 5,588 6,212 11,948 16,798 24,998 47,470 33,956 48,771 53,481 64,888 47,471

C8,137

t=3Cotton 110,350

24 17,326 56,994 133,831 117,778 131,631 154,215 117,269 55,992 40,568 17,851 9,911 6,467

HWool 51,517

17 1,618 10,361 47,476 41,407 51,177 62,111 68,543 42,164 32,zo1 x4,006 20,483 11,840

CRice 13,083* 2,097 1,662 4,472 18,293 9,999 10,969 15,572 02,0471' 13,170 9,990 14,365 10,543 1,490

zTea 62,169*

654 943 6,638 07,297 26,072 27,966 36,959 29,5921' zo,6tx 12,632 7,751 19,307 6,468

F-+

Hides and leatherChemical products

42,987* 2,20709,597* 5,698

3,1003,425

6,5344,443

34,02014,953

46,68707,204

46,14812,646

47,40817,117

39,7921 20,96414,790t 18,S51

14,03614,133

7,3034,200

3,684z,56o

C7,8r7 z5,6o1

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U.S.S.R. 297

This table shows the growth of imports of machinery andequipment and of metals during the period of intensive indus-trialization of the first Five-Year Plan (1929-1932) . Importsof industrial machinery and parts, electrical equipment, preci-sion instruments, ferrous and nonferrous metals and iron andsteel products during this period were three times as large asbefore the war. Purchases of tractors and combines were alsolarge, due to the demand brought about by the reorganizationof agriculture to a basis of large-scale, mechanized cultivation .In the past three years imports of these products were drasticallyreduced, due primarily to the increase in domestic production .Similarly, purchases of many raw and semi-finished productshave been greatly curtailed in the past few years as domesticoutput has begun to satisfy an increasing share of the demand .This has been the case with metals, tanning materials, chemicalproducts, paints and dyes, coal, cotton, jute, hides and leathers,paper, etc .

Imports of some consumers' goods, such as tea and herrings,have also been cut down and luxury imports virtually elimi-nated. Purchases of coal abroad, which in 1913 totaled 9omillion rubles, were practically dispensed with several years ago .Cotton imports, which before the war and from 1925 to 1930averaged over a 10o million rubles annually, were cut to abouta tenth of that figure in 1 933 .

The considerable drop in imports in the past two years hasbeen accounted for in part by the increasing domestic output ofmining and manufacturing industries and of agricultural rawmaterials, and by the establishment of many entirely new in-dustries. It is also a reflection, in part, of unfavorable condi-tions on the world market, particularly with regard to creditsfor imports and the sale of Soviet products .

The U.S.S.R . as a Market f or Industrial ProductsThe developments under the Five-Year Plan made the So-

298


viet Union a leading market for machinery and equipmentand one of the most important purchasers of iron and steel .During the period it took from 20 to 30 per cent of world ex-ports of machinery and about 20 per cent of iron and steel ex-ports. Whereas in 1929 it took six per cent of the machineryexports of the seven principal exporting countries, by 1932 thishad increased to 3o per cent . It took 8o per cent of British ex-ports of machine tools in 1932 and 25 per cent of its totalmachinery shipments ; 70 per cent of its exports of coal-cuttersin 1931 and 56 per cent of steam turbines .

In the five years 1929-1933 it took 13 .5 per cent of UnitedStates exports of industrial equipment, 31 per cent of metal-working machinery, four per cent of electrical equipment, 30per cent of agricultural machinery, 45 per cent of tractors and26 per cent of combines . In 1931 it took 27 .5 per cent of totalAmerican industrial equipment exports and 66 per cent of agri-cultural machinery. In 1932, of total German shipments ofmachine tools, the U .S.S.R. accounted for 75 per cent, ofcranes-85 per cent, excavators-70 per cent, pumps-54 percent, etc . About 65 per cent of electrical equipment exports ofItaly and 92 per cent of its ball-bearing exports went to theU.S.S.R . in 1932 .

The efforts of the U .S .S.R . to attain a high degree of eco-nomic independence do not signify a policy of isolation andsevering of trade relations with other countries, according todeclarations of Soviet authorities . The declared aim is to reacha stage where the country is not dependent on the outsideworld as regards its basic requirements of machinery and rawmaterials . Under such circumstances trade will be carried onwhen the conditions are favorable, and on a basis of equality .While the Soviet Union, according to officials, is no longercompelled to buy most types of machinery and raw and semi-manufactured products abroad, it is able and ready to absorb


299

a large volume of foreign products provided acceptable creditand other conditions are established .

It is worthy of note that during the period of the Five-YearPlan, when the machine-building industries increased their out-put four-fold, imports of machinery (over two billion rublesfrom 1929 to 1933 were double those of the preceding fiveyears as well as of the prewar period . At the same time, thepercentage of foreign machinery in the total machinery supplyof the country steadily declined . For instance, despite the largeincrease in imports of machine tools (70,000 machines duringthe period of the Five-Year Plan), domestic machine tools in-creased from 22 per cent of the total in the prewar period to38 per cent in 1932 . Of all new machinery put in operation,foreign machinery constituted 65 per cent in 1913 as against10-12 per cent in 1932 . This is accounted for by the fact thatin 1932 domestic machine-building output was about ten timesthe prewar, making up about 25 per cent of world productionas compared with 3 .5 per cent in 1913 .

The following table shows the role of the U .S.S.R. inworld exports and imports of machinery and electrical appara-tus for the four years 1929-1932 :IMPORTS OF MACHINERY AND ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT INTO

of Principal Countries 4

5.8

14.7

25.3

29.9Share of U.S.S.R . in Imports

of Principal Countries 5

13.7

26.7

40.2

41. 6 64 Includes exports from Germany, England, United States, France, Switzerland, Sweden

and Italy.° Includes imports into England, Germany, France, India, Italy, United States, Argentina,

Canada, Japan and U .S .S .R.

O Not including Argentina .

The Soviet Union has also been one of the largest importersof metals. From 1930 to 1933 imports of ferrous metals and

U.S .S .R .1929 1930

1931 1932

Imports into U .S .S .R . 106 .7'n millions of dollars N

174 .6z1o .6 252 .4In per cent of 1929 100 .0 197 .4 236 .6 163 .6Share of U .S .S .R. in Exports

300


iron and steel products averaged over a million tons annually,reaching a peak of 1,703,000 tons in 1931 . In 1930 theU.S.S.R. accounted for 9.3 per cent and in 1932 for 19.7per cent of the total iron and steel imports of the ten leadingimporting countries, being second only to England in 1931 and1932 . Likewise, it has been one of the important purchasers ofnonferrous metals, imports of which averaged 95,000 tons ayear from 1929 to 1933 . Purchases of metals in the past fewyears have been several times as great as in the prewar years.

As regards chemical products, from 1925 to 1930 theU .S .S.R. took from five to six per cent of imports of the sevenleading countries. In that period imports averaged 50 millionrubles annually (including paints and dyes, tanning extracts,etc .) . In the past three years the average fell to 12 millionrubles a year, due primarily to increased domestic production .

Purchases of some raw materials, such as cotton, wool andrubber, have also been considerable in the past years . From1925 to 1929 Soviet imports of cotton made up from 3 .2 to4.5 per cent of total world imports, as compared with six percent before the war. In the past few years, in connection withthe development of domestic cotton cultivation, importshave dropped markedly . From an average of 128,ooo tons ayear from 1925 to 1929 they fell to 56,000 tons average in1930-31 and 24,000 tons in 1932-34 . In 1930-32 consider-able quantities of cotton also were exported (average of 23,000tons a year) .

Imports of wool by the U .S .S.R . have made up two or threeper cent of world imports in the past few years (as against4.2 per cent before the war) . They rose from 18,700 tons in1925 to 39,200 tons in 1929 and from 1930 to 1934 aver-aged 28,300 tons a year .

Imports of crude rubber have shown a steady increase, goingfrom 6,400 tons in 1925 to 15,400 tons in 1928, 28,200 tons


301

in 1931 and 48,100 tons in 1934 . The U.S.S.R. took 2 .7per cent of total world exports in 1931 and over three percent in 1932 .

The following table shows imports of the Soviet Union, bothby value and tonnage, in the three years 1 93 1-1 933

IMPORTS INTO THE SOVIET UNION

By Commodities

1933

In metric In thous .1932

In metric

In thous .

tons

rubles

In metric

tons

1931

In thous.

rublesITEMS tons rubles

(a) Food Products

Grain 6,838 239 138,332 6,429 5,793 425Rice 10,543 876 66,97.z 14,365 49,183 9,990Dried fruits 1,459 242 11,101 2,773 5,452 1,121Nuts 147 151 704 808 1,190 1,174Spices 15 9 195 91 394 322Coffee 58 29 237 105 1,178 632Cocoa 905 x63 315 83 4,198 1,121Tea 19,307 5,764 15,949 7,751 20,708 12,632Sugar 6,996 521 41,507 2,640 98 27Herrings 18,5o8 793 6o,249 4,428 38,083 3,660Other food products 28, ;zi 6,852 . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(b) Animal and Animal

Products

3,815 46,324 6,929 56,104 10,697Cattle

27,029Other livestock

39,041 8,704 46,526 9,638 47,552 20,163Horses

4,300 1,038 7,671 1,700 4,541 1,032Hides, raw

5,228 2,698 ,6,186 6,297 18,742 1o,o6,Hides, dressed

957 986 694 ,,oo6 2,960 3,975Hides, goats and sheep

3,266 3,373 3,917 3,309 10,229 8,279

Other fur

533 6,863 . . .. . . .. . . ..Footwear and leather

products

33 200 52 297 27 204

(c) Wood, Glass, Coal,

Rubber, Chemicals,

Drugs and Thai,Products

51 17 12 420 192Wooden articles

29

Cork bark

1,879 123 1,591 149 2,166 573Seeds

2,536 435 1,830 922 4,460 2,460

Copra . . . . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. 15 2Abrasives

989 279 997 461 2,690 692Glassware

49 13 12 35 6, zo6Coal

15,403 81 52,511 465 106,603 1,215

Exotic resins

448 271 1,414 1,627 1,699 1,761

Caoutchouc and cruderubber

32,270 6,385 30,569 7,672 28,2,0 13,876

Rubber articles

56 61 216 167 597 8is

302



CommoditiesBy

1933 1932 1931In metric In thout . In metric

In thous . In metric

In thout.ITEMS

to., rubles tons rubies tore

rublesSulphur and sulphur

flowers

3,078 175 3,012 194 22,346 1,297Chemical products

9,073 2,56o 10,871 4,200 86,503 14,133Fertilizers . . . . . . . . . . .. .5 43,559 2,752Saltpeter

501 65 2,,66 310 2,330 437Iodine . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277Quinine and its salts

88 1,568 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .Pharmaceutical preparations

2 22 .4 15 5 55Vegetable oils

846 217 6,313 1,781 4,281 914Ether oils

8 47 to 9t 15 207Tanning fluids

,,o6z 177 1,075 197 768 371Dyes and paints

1,639 932 2,283 t,o66 1,971 1,222

(d) Metals and MetalProducts

Ferrous metals

506,316 47,500 893,497 76,660 1,417,952 124,560Copper

7,882 2,150 11,969 4,400 25,253 10,573Nickel

3,498 4 .887 3,961 6,558 3,840 6,zzoAluminum

10,570 6,842 10,432 7,489 20.372 15,658Bismuth . . . . . . . . . . . . 56o 1,964 1,863Tin

4,117 5,410 3,910 4,819 4,486 5,123Lead

16,405 1,377 32,762 3816 41,945 5,824Zinc

5,809 675 10,599 1,416 23,660 3,790Other nonferrous metals

255 391 6 8 47 215Copper articles

236 504 672 1,534 869 2,159Pig iron, iron and steel

articles

110,978 28,566 109,456 42,660 242,352 90,870Tin articles

5.450 1,070 68o 378 1,840 1,520Wire

9,581 2,736 22,127 5,619 38 .519 9,131Wire articles

533 310 1,201 775 5,227 2,560

(e) Industrial, Agricultural,Automotive Machineryand Equipment

93 66 2z6 410 1,134Tools for handicraft work

46Agricultural implements

1 1 .4 2 3 4Industrial machinery

124,210 87,784 241,356 213,932 217,483 240,713Agricultural machinery

91 87 245 227 23,453 17,907Parts of industrial

machinery

14,868 21,472 48.655 59,385 73,681 90,447Parts of agricultural

machinery

6o 37 1,371 612 x6,877 8,380Tractors

134 147 246 293 76,134 69,047Parts of tractors

2,592 2,240 87, 81 6,213 10,580Automobiles

989 1,304 1,588 2,415 8,285 12,319Motorcycles

2 7 4 12 39 89Parts of automobiles and

motorcycles

4,597 1,707 ,o,86o 5,841 26,511 24,982Bicycles

13 20 12 17 70 151

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U .S.S.R.

303

TOTAL IMPORTS 1,236,118 348,216 2,300,211

698,693

3,564,352

1,105,034

Exports by CommoditiesFor a period of several years the Soviet Union was en-

tirely out of the world market . In 1922, when trade was re-sumed on a more or less regular basis, exports totaled only fiveper cent of the prewar. In the following years, despite cam-


By Commodities

1933In metric In thous .

1932In metric

In thous .

1931In metric

In thou,.

tons

ruble,ITEMS

tons rubles tons rublesOptical, physical and

chemical apparatus

747 5,666 1,414 11,891 1,588 14,799Ships and boats

19,423 4,029 29,896 8,108 . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Medical instruments

3 24 7 47 6 77Electrical machinery,

apparatus and supplies 21,231 19,350 47,239 64,888 35,902 53,481Supplies for watch factories

4 357 10 313 6 394

(f) Paper and PaperProducts

Paper pulp 2,246 87 3,230 207 68,383 2,483Cardboard 294 146 227 175 346 217Paper 264 148 397 246 28,680 3,347

(g) Textiles andManufactures

Raw cotton 22,554 9,911 24,299 17,851 53,749 40,568Raw jute and kenaf 10,489 1,231 6,430 935 24,501 3,589Manilla hemp 13,068 1,522 5,559 642 . .. . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . ..Silk cocoons 261 402 133 702 138 867Raw silk 4 94 52 883 1 40Wool 28,536 21,483 25,748 23,944 30,730 32,201Woolen rags 7,423 1,384 4,584 1,246 11,146 3,266Cotton yarn 48 86 57 67 408 636Silk, twisted and spun 1 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 .4Wool, combed, spun and

twisted 46 179 48 124 35 83Cotton fabrics 1 16 81 332 96 480Hemp and flax fabrics 2,691 828 2,141 1,396 7,155 4,492Silk and silk mixture

fabrics 3 21 3 15 4 28Woolen cloth 120 6z8 564 3,234 305 1,992Technical cloth 9 36 40 117 183 524Knitted articles 73 445 24 231 to 11S

(h) MiscellaneousDiamonds and carbonates . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 0 6Other imports 24,916 6,035 170,428 .2 33,350 .5 449,346 .9 66,554 .6

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305

paigns and restrictions against Soviet commodities in a numberof countries, exports increased steadily and many of the im-portant products (oil, lumber, manganese, furs, etc .) regainedtheir lost ground. In addition, many products, chiefly mineralsand manufactures, which before the war were imported havebeen added to the list of exports .

The outstanding difference between the prewar and present-day export trade is the large decline in the importance of grainand other foodstuffs in exports and the increasing importanceof industrial products. Whereas in the prewar years (i909-191D grain products made up about 40 per cent of the totalexports, in the four years 1930-1933 they constituted only 16per cent of the exports. During the years of maximum postwargrain exports (1930-1931) the exports averaged 5,000,000tons annually, about one-half the prewar total . This despite thefact that in some years (e.g ., 1930 and 1933) production wasgreater than before the war . Although the per capita con-sumption of wheat was among the lowest of all countries,tsarist Russia exported over 4,000,000 metric tons a year, about25 per cent of the world exports . Postwar exports never ex-ceeded 6o per cent of this figure, due to the increased domesticconsumption of wheat .

Resumption of grain exports to any considerable extent be-gan only in 1926 . In that and the following year they averagedsomewhat over two million metric tons a year. The followingtwo years they were negligible but in 1930 and 1931, as a re-sult of the good crop of 1930, they rose to about five milliontons. In 1932-1933 exports again fell-to 1 .8 million tonseach year, and in 1934 they amounted to only 8oo,ooo tons.

In 1930 the U.S .S.R . supplied 15 per cent and in 1931, 12per cent of world wheat exports as compared with 25 per centbefore-the war. In 1933 its share dropped to five per cent .Its share of world rye exports was 61 per cent in 1931 and

306


30 per cent in 1932, as against 33 per cent in 1909-13 . Sovietbarley shipments made up 30 per cent of the world total in193o and 20 per cent in 1932 . (Before the war Russia sup-plied 6o per cent .)

The following table shows the share of the U .S.S.R. inworld wheat exports during the past few years and before thewar

WHEAT (in mill. centners)

Exports of flax have been considerably reduced since theprewar years, due in part to the loss of the Baltic States andPoland, which supplied a substantial part of the exports . Never-theless, the U.S.S.R ., with its shipments exceeding 8o,-00o tons a year, is one of the largest flax exporters . In the pastfew years the value of the exports has declined as a result ofthe drop in prices . The Soviet Union supplied 25 per cent ofworld exports in 1930 as against 53 per cent before the war .However, in the past few years, with the simultaneous drop inthe area sown to flax in other European countries, and thelarge increase in the U.S .S.R ., the share of the latter has in-creased considerably .

Whereas before the war raw products made up 98 .5 per .cent of flax exports, by 1932 this had been reduced to 59 percent. At the same time, finished or semi-finished materials(combed flax, yarn and cloth) were increased to 41 per centof the total exports .

As has been the case with grain, exports of butter, eggs andother foodstuffs have been drastically reduced since before thewar. However, the U.S .S.R . is still a factor on the world mar-kets as regards some of these products. Shipments of butter,

1909-13 1929 1930 '93' 1932 1933World exports 170.8 190.6 167 .7 203 .5 172 .9 156 .oU .S .S .R . exports 42 .4 0 25 .3 25 .0 5 .4 7 .1Share of U .S .S .R.

in total (per cent) 24 .8 . . . . . . . . 15 .1 12 .3 3 .1 4 .6


307

which in the last five prewar years averaged 68,ooo tons a year,were reduced to less than 40 per cent of that figure in the pastfive years (average of 25,000 tons annually in 1929-1 933) .In the years from 1926 to 1929 and in 1931-32 the SovietUnion accounted for about five per cent of total world exportsof butter, as compared with 21 per cent before the war .Exports of eggs, which in the prewar years exceeded 76 millionrubles a year, averaged 28 million rubles from 1925 to 1929 .In the three years 1932-1934 they averaged less than 750,000rubles a year . From 1927 to 1929 the U.S.S.R. supplied fromnine to 15 per cent of world exports. Among the other animalproducts the Soviet Union is a large exporter of bristles, hair,casings, raw skins, etc .

Exports of furs and fish products have shown a large in-crease since before the war. From 1925 to 1931 these aver-aged four times as much as during the prewar period (98 mil-lion rubles average in 1925-1931 as against 25 million in1909-1913)- In 1932-1934, owing in part to lower prices,shipments averaged only about a half of the preceding periodbut almost double the prewar .

In this group furs make up from 8o to 9o per cent of thetotal, the U .S .S.R. supplying from 20 to 25 per cent of theworld exports . Since 1925 furs have made up from seven tofifteen per cent of total exports . From 1927 to 1929 furshipments averaged loo million rubles a year (six times theprewar), but in the four years 1930-1933 they dropped to anaverage of S3 million rubles a year. A feature of this trade hasbeen the increasing proportion of dressed furs in total fur ex-ports. These increased from six per cent of the total in 1925to 17 per cent in 1929 and 42 per cent in 1 933-

In 1931 the Soviet fur export organization organized thefirst international fur auction held in the U.S.S.R ., at Lenin-grad. Previously these auctions had been confined principally

308


to Leipzig and London . The ninth Leningrad auction washeld in July, 1935, with more than zoo foreign firmsrepresented .

Among the fish products sturgeon, salmon and caviar are theprincipal items. Exports of fish (fresh, salted and smoked) andcaviar averaged 11 .7 million rubles from 1929 to 1933 asagainst 8 .1 million rubles in 1909 to 1913 .

The process of industrialization is reflected in the increasingproportion of industrial exports. Whereas before the war thesemade up only about 30 per cent of total exports, during theperiod from 1922 to 1924 the proportion had risen to 39 percent, in 1929-1931 to 59 per cent and in 1932-1934 to 70per cent .

Products of the mining industries (oil, coal, manganese, ironore, asbestos, etc .) since 1925 have averaged from two to threetimes the prewar exports in value, and in volume even a higherratio. This group accounted for about 20 per cent of total So-viet exports from 1929 to 1933 as against less than four percent in 1909-1913-

The principal commodity in the mining group is oil, exportsof which have averaged during the past four years almostsix times the prewar (5 .1 million tons from 1931 to 1934 and0.9 million tons in 1909-1913) . In 1928 and 1932 oil wasthe leader among Soviet exports ; in the other years it was eithersecond or third (after lumber or grain or both) . In recentyears there has been an especially large rise in exports of themore highly refined products. Gasoline now constitutes theprincipal export, having displaced kerosene. The U.S.S.R. isthird among the oil exporting countries (coming after theUnited States and the Dutch West Indies) . It supplies aboutfive to seven per cent of total world exports and a fifth ofEuropean oil imports, the principal markets being France, Italy,Germany, England and Spain .

Since the U .S .S.R. exports only a small portion of crudeoil its share in world exports of a number of refined productsis considerably greater than for total oil exports . For instance,it accounted in 1930 for ten per cent of the gasoline exportsof the six leading shippers and for 16 per cent of the keroseneexports of the five major producing countries . Of thetotal gasoline shipments of the twelve leading exporting coun-tries in 1933, the U.S.S.R. accounted for 10.5 per cent ;of kerosene exports-14 per cent and of lubricating oil ship-ments-16 per cent.

Whereas before the war oil exports made up only two orthree per cent of total exports, from 1929 to 1933 they ac-counted for from 15 to 18 per cent of shipments and made upabout a quarter of total industrial exports . Gasoline constitutedabout 30 per cent of total petroleum exports in 1931-1933 ascompared with 28 per cent in 1928 and 16 per cent in 1913 .On the other hand, the share of kerosene in total shipmentshas been reduced from 46 per cent before the war to 12 percent in 1931-1933 and that of lubricating oils from 31 tofour or five per cent . In addition to taking an increasing shareof the old established markets, Soviet petroleum has penetratedinto a number of new markets in the past few years . Sales weremade in Southern China and Korea for the first time in 1931 ;in 1932 the U .S.S.R. started the exportation of oil to Canada,New Zealand and Uruguay ; in the same year contracts werealso concluded for sales of gasoline in Japan and India .

In the past few years the distributing apparatus of the Sovietoil export organizations has been greatly expanded . The fleet oftankers has been increased to ioo,ooo tons capacity. In Eng-land, Germany, Italy, Sweden and other countries a large chain

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U .S .S .R . 309

OIL PRODUCTS (in mill . tons)1909-13 1929 7930 7931

World exports 11 .2

76.r 79 .S 72 .0U .S .S .R . exports 0 .9

3.8 4.8 S •3Share of U .S .S .R. in total (per cent) 8.o

5.o 6.o 7 .4

310


of storage tanks and distributing stations has been established .

From 1928 to 1932 the share of oil exports marketed by

Soviet organizations increased from 12 .5 to 23 per cent. Morethan half the exports are sold to independent concerns or to

state monopolies or semi-monopolies . The share marked

through the apparatus of the international concerns declined

from 30 per cent in 1928-29 to 16 per cent in 1931 . From

1928 to 1931 the U .S .S.R. increased its share in the oil im-

ports of Italy from 19 .7 to 33.3 per cent, of Germany from

12.4 to 18.4 per cent, of France from 12 .0 to 17.3 per cent,

and of England from 7 .6 to 14.3 per cent .

The Soviet Union is the leading manganese exporter, ac-counting for about a half of the world's shipments . Exports

approached the prewar level in 1929 (1,037 metric tons asagainst 1,194 in 1913) but since then, as a result of the slack-ened operations of the steel industry, have shown a considerable

decline .

Exports of asbestos in the five-year period 1930-1934 (aver-aging 20,100 metric tons) were about 75 per cent above the

prewar average (11,400 tons) in 1909-1913 . Coal and coke

exports have averaged 1 .8 million tons annually in 1930 -1 933whereas before the war Russia was a large importer of coal .

Iron ore and chrome are other important items in this group .

Exports of the former were over a millon tons in 1931, and

averaged 425,000 tons in 1932-1933 as against 677,000 tons

a year before the war (1909-1913) . Shipments of chromite,

of which Russia formerly was one of the chief sources of sup-ply, averaged over 35,000 tons a year in 1930-1933 as com-

pared with 5,300 tons in 1929 . The U.S .S.R . supplies at pres-

MANGANESE (in thous. tons)1913 1929 1930 1931 193 2

World exports 2,134 2,497 1 ,948 1,389 683U .S .S.R . exports 1,194 1,037 7S4 742 416Share of U .S .S .R . in total

(per cent) 56 .o 41 .5 38 .7 53 .4 60.9

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U .S .S .R .

311

ent from three to five per cent of the world requirements ofthis mineral.

Lumber exports in the five years 1929-1933 made up about15 per cent of total Soviet exports in value as compared withten per cent in the last five prewar years. Shipments exceededthe prewar level for the first time in 1930 (12 .2 million cubicmeters in 193o as against 10.4 in 1913), fell slightly belowin the following two years and again rose above it in 1 933and 1 934 .The U.S.S.R. is one of the principal timber exporting coun-

tries, accounting for about 18 to 20 per cent of world exports,as against 15 per cent before the war . Countries in Northernand Central Europe (England, Holland, Germany, France,Belgium, etc.) took from 83 to 89 per cent of the total exportsin the past five years, England's share ranging from 33 to 46per cent . The lumber exports are now distributed over a widerarea than formerly. Whereas before the war the countries ofNorthern and Central Europe took 98 per cent of total exports,in 1931 their share amounted to 84 per cent and that of Medi-terranean and Far Eastern countries to 13 per cent. The pro-portion of sawn lumber and lumber products (veneers, etc .) intotal timber exports increased from 67 per cent in 1929 to73 .5 in 1932 . Since 1930 the Soviet Union has been the lead-ing exporting country in Europe .

LUMBER (in mil. cu . meters)

Among the products of the food industries, exports of sugaraveraged 32 million rubles from 1927 to 1931 as comparedwith 41 million from 1909 to 1913 . In volume, shipments in1931 (320,000 tons) exceeded those of prewar (266,000 tonsin 19o9-1913) . In 1932-1934, however, exports dropped to

1931 1929 1930 1931World exports 68 .o 82

.073 .0 56 .o

U .S .S .R . exports 10 .4 8 .8 12 .2 9 .9Share of U.S .S.R . in total (per cent) 15 .3 10 .7 16 .7 17 .7

312


an average of 54,000 tons a year . Sales of canned goodsabroad, which were negligible before the war (75,000 rublesin 1909-1913) have shown considerable development, corre-sponding to the growth of the canning industry . They averagedover 20 million rubles a year in 1930 and 1931 . The principalitems in this group are canned crabmeat, salmon and vegetables .

Exports of a number of manufactured products have beendeveloped in the past few years, although in general these playa secondary role in the total trade . Shipments of miscellaneousindustrial products (not including those mentioned above) havemade up about 20 per cent of the exports in the past three yearsas against about six per cent before the war .

Chief among the items in this group is cotton cloth, exportsof which, principally to eastern countries, have averaged about40 million rubles annually in the past five years as comparedwith 32 million rubles in 1909-1913 . It was fifth among Sovietexport items in 1930-1931 and 1933 and third in 1932 . TheU.S.S.R. accounted for 5 per cent of the trade of the eightleading exporting countries in 1931 . Exports of metal prod-ucts (especially machinery) and electrical articles, also primar-ily to eastern countries, have averaged nine million rubles in thepast three years .

Soyuzpromexport (The All-Union Industrial Export Cor-poration) exports about 150 industrial items (including morethan 50 chemical products), over 95 per cent of which wereimported before the war . The number of items increasedfourfold from 1929 to 1933 . Many of these export products,such as rosin, superphosphates, potassium salts, paraffin, calcinedand caustic soda, electric lamps, etc ., were formerly imported insubstantial quantities . Shipments of this organization in 1 933of goods the export of which was started since 1929 totaledover 21 million rubles. Its exports trebled from 1929 to 1 933,despite the large drop in total Soviet exports .

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U.S .S .R . 3 1 3

An interesting feature of the past few years has been thestarting of exports of a number of artificial fertilizers. Ship-ments of potash from the Solikamsk deposits in the Urals, thelargest in the world, began in 1933 . Likewise, the opening upof the huge apatite deposits of the Kola peninsula, north ofthe polar circle, has provided a source of raw materials for theproduction of superphosphates, shipments of which abroad werestarted in 1933 . Exports of Thomas slag powder, anothertype of fertilizer, were begun in 1932 .

Another recent development has been the growth of exportsof residues of the gold, platinum and nonferrous metals in-dustries . For years there had been accumulating vast quantitiesof low-grade ores, analyses of which revealed large amounts ofprecious and rare metals (gold, silver, tungsten, iridium, mo-lybdenum, etc .) . By careful sorting and treating of these prod-ucts Soyuzpromexport was able to build up a large exporttrade, shipments abroad, including partially refined gold ores(chlorides, precipitates, electrolytic slimes, etc .), increasingfrom 2 .1 million rubles in 1931 to more than 15 million rublesin 1933 . Other miscellaneous industrial items of some import-ance include matches, rubber articles, rugs, peasant and handi-craft products, crude metals, rags, thread, combed flax and flaxyarn, china and glassware, pharmaceutical products andjewelry and antiques .

EXPORTS FROM THE SOVIET UNION

(By Commodities)ITEMS

r. AGRICULTURAL 1933 1932 - 1931EXPORTS

(a) Products of the SoilWheat

In metric In thous.tons

rubles1. tnetrie

tons550,917

In thous .rubles19,208

In metric In thaw .ton,

2,498,958rubles77,312748,248 20,554

Rye 157,226 3,678 421,051 13,267 1,108,825 31,980Barley 567,094 11,178 422,081 11,958 963,879 26,885Oats 83,588 1,928 17,230 639 387,053 12,036Corn 123,673 2,479 311,115 6,658 96,964 2,138Other grain products 9,941 789 10,211 1,064 3,717 786Beans, peas, etc . 79,838 5,440 85,737 5,256 122,203 6,407Castor-oil plant 3,205 212 8,133 604 . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .Oil seeds 61,720 2,350 220,677 9,032 75,056 3,144



tons

rubles

1932In metric In thou,.

1931In metric In thou,.

tons

rublestons rublesOther seeds

6,987 303 19,964 910 12,067 626Flax

59,294 14,229 55,253 13,573 57,209 13,121Flax noils

1,205 i85 232 39 779 112Hemp

13 3 1,159 128 9 3Hemp noils

29 5 99 11 163 21Leaf tobacco

5,268 2,417 3,171 1,994 2,898 2,871Licorice root

6,640 525 5,932 521 6,474 702

Medicinal herbs

5,675 771 4,092 1,100 4,189 1,166Fruits, raw

1,845 307 4,869 591 6,162 885Fruits, dried

7,151 982 12,659 2,410 4,632 1,054Other vegetables

157 77 647 139 1,483 173Mushrooms

135 150 131 143 360 604Cotton

588 182 17,860 5,495 40,180 18,005Others

7,598 1,594 5,383 1,689 12,238 3,724

(b) Animal ProductsRaw skins

8,254 2,787 14,615 3,295 12,460 6,308Wool

5,983 1,0 44 5,277 766 7,529 1,403Bristles

409 987 704 2,063 593 2,142Hair

2,757 1,434 1,805 1,295 2,772 2,169Casings

4,735 3,702 6,466 5,525 6,850 7,075Eggs

1,970 245 7,181 1,632 20,437 5,691Butter

37,205 12,221 30,934 15,872 30,855 24,272Livestock 55 log 99 346Bacon

2,207 635 1,813 380 1,849 734Other meat products

103 19 458 98 304 74Fowls, slaughtered

5,005 1,809 ,o,o6z 4,142 18,445 9,628Fowls, live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Feathers and down

1,455 559 910 561 1,338 1,455Silk products

616 1,656 431 i,r6z 915 2,955Cheese

28 33 56 37 50 54Bones

12 1 581 14 1,273 36336 779 170 730 207Honey

1,966Others

1,713 739 1,246 68o 2,191 1,841

(c) Furs and Fish Product,Furs

3,500 38,557 3,108 42,300 2,964 56,199Fish

29,x68 3,063 26,937 3,708 48,533 10,383Caviar, black

293 1,952 297 2,276 375 4,344Caviar, red

1,031 376 386 239 1,094 592Other products of fishing and

hunting

5,950 735 3,750 675 3,114 783

Total agricultural exports

2,051,478 143,228 2,296,449 183,428 5,570,274 342,255

a . INDUSTRIAL EXPORTS(a) Timber end Timber

ProductsLumber

2,926,128 45,144 2,680,967 44,532 2,762,158 67,507Veneer

99,050 6,zoo 102,238 9,033 61,r51 6,961Other timber products

3,255,961 25,386 2,905,550 26,960 3,259,913 39,125Products of wood distillation 15,052 1,588 20,631 1,646 16,176 1,609

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U.S .S.R . 315


tons

rubles

1932 1931In metric In thous.In metric

tons

In thous.

rubles tons ruble;(b) Food Products

Sugar 38,388 5,544 76,121 12,798 319,789 32,689Sunflower oil 13,356 1,832 34,951 4,046 22,151 3,924Cotton seed oil 11,896 1,312 2,692 310 4,755 877Other vegetable oil 835 91 261 47 86 25Oil cakes 410,511 12,597 431,877 14,166 37.8,610 14,148Flour 31,517 3,929 31,917 4,602 31,367 5,349Bran 7,411 136 18,278 379 2,093 61Canned goods 23,572 6,090 18,703 8,442 28,385 15,940Macaroni 150 38 288 29o 208 132Tobacco products 4,595 2,434 3,483 2,217 1,789 2,217Starch products 33,362 1,641 29,759 1,903 36,817 2,540Wines 5,676 371 6,o68 444 3,896 789Confectionery 2,703 1,596 2,017 1,447 5,312 2,664Other food products 11,368 1,049 5,119 875 17,639 2,077

(c) Products of MiningIndustries

Iron ore 509,058 2,344 342,272 1,632 1,119,108 6,564Manganese 655,007 4,512 415,609 3,771 741,705 9,774Asbestos 21,458 z,651 16,551 2,381 13,239 2,485Salt 155,S11 847 107,152 796 64,300 65oCoal, anthracite and coke 1,817,534 10,390 1,795,183 12,432 1,674,811 14,182Magnesite 7,053 210 z,685 85 15,185 563Oil products 4,894,452 75,671 6,106,003 107,256 5,224,302 115,663Zinc ores 13,230 348 6,343 192 46,759 2,157Other products of mining

industries 395,379 4,663 167,884 2,723 75,605 1,717

(d) Miscellaneous Industrial

Products

3,129 42,908 2,348 58,339 4,428Soda 71,033Perfumes 408 463 396 386 476 511Matches 10,645 1,974 8,562 1,539 5,925 1,386Cement 87,453 1,899 38,448 551 46,732 647Coal tar pitch 49,558 1,110 45,961 855 28,ox6 447Pottery, china and glass 20,554 3,1,6 20,897 4,414 13,514 4,358Rubber articles 1,213 1,570 1,578 2,408 1,665 3,529Cotton cloth 16,044 31,523 19,402 51,402 16,670 48,375Linen, hemp and jute cloth 884 695 1,470 799 1,132 973Rugs 492 1,86, 619 2,554 529 3,682Handicraft and peasant work 3,710 z,822 1,665 2,254 516 1,401Metallic and electrical articles 42,831 9,445 17,084 9,880 14,o6z 8,502Unmanufactured metals 02,027 39,609 6,277 9,585 20,786 2,235Metal scrap 4,138 log 12,740 211 20,238 599Rags 18,703 1,552 z8,162 1,757 19,668 2,055Bone glue and bone flour 4,184 380 5,687 732 7,196 1,327Glycerine 1,943 277 2,713 425 1,588 357Combed flax and flax wastes 27,519 6,107 z6,951 7,712 21,981 4,780Flax yarn 2,716 1,405 2,346 1,298 2,306 720Thread 846 1,411 643 0,836 498 1,720


Soviet Foreign Trade by CountriesThere have been considerable changes since the prewar

period in the distribution of foreign trade by countries .Whereas before the war Germany and England supplied about6o per cent of Russian imports, from 1929 to 1931 their shareranged from 28 to 44 per cent. The difference was taken uplargely by the United States, which before the war accountedfor only about six per cent of total imports but increased this to18-25 per cent in 1929-1931 . In those years this country waseither first or second among exporters to the U .S.S.R . In thepast two years, however, in connection with the sharp drop ofSoviet purchases in the United States, the proportion of importsfrom the United States dropped markedly-to about five percent in 1932-1933 . In the latter year the United States wassixth among the countries exporting to the Soviet Union .

The high level of purchases in Germany up to 1934 as wellas the steadily increasing role played by Italy in the Soviet im-port trade-from one per cent in 1929 to 4 .9 per cent in 1 933-have been largely due to the credit agreements with thosecountries whereby the governments guaranteed large long-termcredits on exports to the U .S.S.R. It is interesting to note thatbetween 1930 and 1932 imports of the U .S .S .R . from theprincipal countries with which trade agreements were in effect

1933In metric In thous.

rubles

1932


tons

rublesIn metric In thous .

tons tonr rublesPotash 1 1 .3 .3 517 77Coke and benzol products 6,562 6,6 1,589 122 2,082 233Chemical and pharmaceutical

products 39,692 3,132 22,533 1,867 21,964 2,152Animal glue (from hides) 757 1x6 1,191 253 1,236 399Antiquarian and jewelry goods 55 66z 69 1,210 105 2,675Motion picture films 1 z8 4 126 1 44Miscellaneous 81,766 18,794 40,937 .7 19,612 .7 33,581 19,054

Total industrial exports

15,865,047 352,430 15 .671,445 391,500 16,208,632 468,955Total agricultural exports

2,051,478 143,228 2,296,449 183,428 5,570,274 342,255

GRAND TOTAL

17,916,525 495,658 17,967,894 574,928 21,778,906 811,210

(Germany, England, Italy, Sweden, and Persia) showed anincrease of over 25 per cent in spite of a decline of more thana third in total imports . On the other hand, purchases fromcountries with which there were no trade agreements (UnitedStates, France, etc .) dropped sharply . Imports from China andMongolia made up 11 .2 per cent of the total in 1933 as com-pared with 6.1 per cent in 1913 .

Aside from Germany and Italy, various schemes of govern-ment-guaranteed export credits for shipments to the U .S .S.R .have been set up in England, Norway, Denmark, Japan, Austria,Poland, Czechoslovakia, Finland and Latvia . These arrange-ments provide for long-term credits on Soviet purchases, withthe government guaranty usually covering from 6o to 75 percent of the value of the order. Details of the most importantof these credits are given in the sections devoted to the respec-tive countries .

SHARE OF PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES IN IMPORTS OF U .S .S .R.

t Fiscal year 1928-29 .1913 total includes Mongolia ; in other years percentages for China and Western China

combined are given .

IMPORTS INTO THE SOVIET UNION(By Countries)


317

COUNTRY OF

ORIGIN 'n thousand rubles1934 1933 1932 1931 1930

Afghanistan 2,753 5,623 11,782 11,615 9,628Argentine 674 223 1,817 7,210 17,366

1913 1929' 1931 1932 1933 1934In per cent of total

42 .5 12 .4Germany 47 .5 22 .5 37 .2 46 .4Great Britain 12 .6 5 .3 6 .6 13 .0 8 .8 19 .9China g 6 .1 4 .1 1 .5 z .6 6 .z 1 .5Mongolia 1 .6 z .6 2 .7 5 .0 8 .8Italy 1 .2 1 .0 2 .7 3 .9 4.9 5 .1United States 5 .8 1 8-3 2o .8 4. 5 4.8 7 .7Poland 2.0 2 .8 o .8 3.7 2.3Persia 3 .2 7 .6 4.2 7.2 2.4 6.2France 4.1 3 .6 1 .4 o.6 1 .5 5 .0Sweden 1 .2 2 .0 1 .4 3 .1 1 .3 2.1

318


•

Includes also Luxemburg .

From a third to a half of all Soviet exports have gone toEngland and Germany, the former usually being the leadingmarket. Only three or four per cent of exports have gone tothe United States in the past few years. A feature of the ex-port trade has been the increase in shipments to Eastern coun-

COUNTRY OF

ORIGIN1934 1933 1932 1931 1930

in thousand rublesAustralia 1,053 Ito 5,86, 3,061 Iz,I65AustriaBelgium

1,5497,233 w

1,2801,538

4,012591

Iz,o283,453

148446,557

Brazil 238 16 117 693 1,397Canada 407 761 z,o58 144 1,437Eastern China 3,440 2,639 5,888 6,931 8,432Czechoslovakia 1941 4,868 10,306 35,736 27,143Denmark 1,436 1,725 2,760 4,736 7,272Egypt 0 946 1g,8 to 18,432England 46,265 30,590 91,928 73,381 80,129Estonia 588 373 39 2,128 2,87,Finland 2,892 z,888 2,890 52,6 12,430France 11,636 5,237 4,335 14,998 29,710Germany 28,758 148,061 327,700 410,645 25o,8z8Greece 913 517 481 1,045 889Holland 15,751 5,974 3,560 2,140 4,712India 629 2,935 5184 9,140 18,317Italy 11,819 16,go 1 27,144 29,755 10,876Japan 6,905 7,349 4,786 ,z,668 16,784Latvia 753 336 5,775 14,549 14761Lithuania 1,360 546 1,178 1,363 1,009Mongolia 20,5 6 1 17,269 19,278 28,833 19,745Norway 2,921 8,520 24,137 28,910 16,555Persia 14,326 8,359 49,940 46,453 44,392Poland 5,249 12,973 5,646 3 1 , 1 7 2 38,760Spain 346 1192 153 z,o68 3,z83Sweden 4,895 4,591 21554 15598 19,538Switzerland 2,236 3,414 4,970 6,325 5,639Tannu-Tuva 2,019 1727 2,191 895 9 , 7Turkey 2,870 4,657 5,762 6,961 11,382United States 17,875 16,58o 31,665 229,9 1 5 264,393Uruguay 2,092 1,032 2,080 1,644 2,811Western China 5,945 I8,8zz 12,305 10,212 16,033Other countries 2,098 Io,655 14,293 28,,o1 54,924

TOTAL 232,426 348,2,6 704,040 1,105,034 1,058,825


319

tries, especially Mongolia. Exports to China and Mongoliamade up I I per cent of the total in 1932-1933 as comparedwith two per cent in 1913 . Besides supplying them with manu-factured products the U .S.S.R. is now furnishing technicalassistance to a number of Eastern countries .

SHARE OF PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES IN EXPORTS OF U .S .S .R

O Fiscal year 1928-29.10 19,3 total includes Mongolia ; in other years percentages for China and Western China

combined are given .

EXPORTS FORM THE SOVIET UNIONCOUNTRY OF 1934 1933

1932 1931 1930DESTINATION in thousand ruble.,

Afghanistan 3,103 7,066 14,579 11,523 7,850Argentine 2,309 889 675 3, 1 39 3,891Australia 21 1 76 6 277Austria 406 876 1,307 2,214 3,565Belgium 17,230 ` 27,340 19,301 18,238 26,904Brazil 4 . .. . . . 46 62 71Canada 234 23 1,011 1 1,169Eastern China 2,055 7,171 8,o86 11,064 12,493Czechoslovakia 837 1,095 1,380 5,134 4,145Denmark 7,576 9350 6,6,2 13,655 14,170Egypt 3,107 4,044 6,165 3,681 9,063England 69,182 86,983 138,485 266,071 279,909Estonia 86o 1 .959 7 .398 8,352 6,433Finland 4,703 5426 5,338 4,6,6 3x733France 21,879 22,893 2.8,698 28,330 44,146Germany 98,431 85,747 100,499 129,338 205,702Greece 3,110 6,545 9435 10,081 10,473Holland

•

Includes also22,224

Luxemburg.25,890 21,517 29,265 34,845

1913 1929 8 1931

1932 1933 1934r in per cent of total ,

Great Britain 17.6 21 .9 32.8 24.1 17.6 16.6Germany 29 .9 23 .8 15 .9 17 .5 17.3 23 .5Mongolia 1 .1 4.6 7.2 7.8 10.7Belgium 4.3 , .8 2.2 3 .4 5 .5 4.1Holland 11 .7 3 .0 3 .6 3 .7 5.2 5.3France 6 .6 4 .9 3 .5 5 .0 4 .6 o.6Italy 4 .8 3 .4 4.9 4.7 4 .5 4.5China 10 2 .1 3 .1 3 .1 4.1 3 .6 o.5United States 1 .0 4.4 z .8 3 .0 z .8 3.4Persia 3 .8 8 .4 4 .0 44 2 .4 z .8

320


EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

GermanyTrade with Germany began to gain rapidly on the basis of

the trade agreement signed in 1925 and a number of lateraccords. On Feb. 25, 1926, a law was passed providing forgovernment-guarantees on credits to the Soviet Union totaling300 million marks, the guaranty covering 6o per cent of theamount of the credits. The amount was increased to 360 mil-lion marks in 1927 . The credits ranged from two years onlight equipment to four years on heavy equipment .

On April 14, 1931, a new credit agreement was signed inBerlin by representatives of the Supreme Economic Council ofthe U.S.S.R. and of German industries, providing additionalcredits to the amount of 300 million marks on orders placedbetween April 15 and August 31, 1931 . On June 15, 1932,another agreement was concluded making certain changes inthe conditions of trade . In the 1931 and 1932 agreements thefinal payments on the credits ranged up to 29-33 months. Ini-

COUNTRY OF 1934 1933 1932 1931 1930DESTINATION

India 2,769 3,421.n thousand ruble

5,219 10,152 6,77EItaly 18,993 22,226 27,031 39,749 53,150Japan 5,782 9,124 10,099 19,817 16,025Latvia 645 2,395 9,776 27,810 32,207Lithuania 1,197 2,7z8 4,151 4,165 2,586Mongolia 44,8o6 38,562 41,395 37,343 17,819Norway 3, 12 7 3,830 3,943 3,968 6,259Persia 11,785 12,008 25,368 32,476 6o,284Poland 3,641 5,056 4,801 7,510 14,131Spain 7,4 64 5,531 7,955 3,469 12,057Sweden 5,634 5,920 6,zog 6,68, 5,139Switzerland 491 241 3 44 151Tannu-Tuva 7,049 5,495 4,388 z,65z 2,092Turkey 5,438 3,798 5,498 12,575 16,195United States 14,277 13,965 17,194 22,690 40,932Uruguay 1,267 1,741 1,540 743 981Western China 4,730 1o,856 15,698 13,954 16,oz7Other countries 21,979 55,487 15,455 20,711 66,736

TOTAL 418,345 495,658 574,928 811,210 1,036,371


32 1

tial cash payments were required usually about a year after dateof delivery . The average credits in the 1932 agreement rangedfrom 14 to 29 months, depending on the type of equipment.The interest rates ranged from 7 to 1o per cent in the lastagreement . A tariff agreement was also signed in May, 1932,which reduced the duty on a number of Soviet products andput some of them on the free list .

Under these conditions imports from Germany increasedfrom 103 million rubles in 1924-25 to 249 million in 1927-28, 411 million in 1931 and 324 million rubles in 1932 . Inthe three years 1931-1933 Germany supplied from 32 to 46per cent of Soviet imports . In 1931 the U.S .S .R. was fourthand in 1932 second among German export markets, taking7 .9 and 11 .9 per cent, respectively, of total exports. In 1 934attacks on Soviet organizations in Germany contributed to adrastic decline in Soviet imports to only 29 million rubles .In April, 1935, the signing of a new agreement providingfor long-term (five-year) credits to the U .S .S.R. to the valueof 200,000,000 marks was announced .

The principal products imported are machinery and metals,for which the U.S.S.R. has been Germany's leading market .The following table shows the shipments of the principaltypes of equipment and metals to the U .S.S.R. and the pro-portion of total German exports (in thousands of reichsmarks)

x930

1931

1932Exports to per cent Exports to per cent Exports to per cent

PRODUCT U.S.S.R . of total U.S.S.R . of total U.S.S.R . of total

Boilers and parts ofmachines 33,637 13 .7 46,494 25 .0 27,864 24 .3

Machine tools 5x,619 22 .8 132052 51 .5 159,699 74 .6Electrical equipment 52,923 12 .0 21,352 24 .1 33,360 46.5Other machinery 79,956 12 .0 131,121 24 .2 xo8,ozi 33 .7Iron bars and shapes 4,591 2 .6 50439 33 .1 49,768 54 .0Pipes and cylinders 12,425 9 .0 36,449 30 .4 17,599 29 .8Iron plate, wire 13,704 7.5 4 2,057 z6.6 45,742 42.2Copper 3,611 4.4 9,770 19 .0 7,634 25.1

322


Exports from the U .S .S.R. to Germany went from 87 mil-lion rubles in 1924 to 206 million in 1930 ; in the last fewyears they have declined considerably, amounting to 98 millionrubles in 1934 . Germany usually ranks second among Sovietmarkets, taking about 20 per cent of total exports .

The principal items exported to Germany are furs, oil, tim-ber, grain, oilseeds, hides and skins, casings and dairy products .About 15 per cent of the lumber exports and 10-12 per centof oil shipments have gone to Germany in the past few years,45 per cent of fur exports, to per cent of grain exports, 30per cent of butter, 20 per cent of flax and hemp, 70 per centof casings, and 85 per cent of hides and skins .

Great Britain

Trade with Great Britain has followed a somewhat unevencourse, being punctuated by a number of political develop-ments which have greatly influenced the growth of trade . Atsuch times as normal conditions have prevailed this has been re-flected in the trade figures . After the establishment of diplo-matic relations in 1924 the trade between the two countriesdeveloped rapidly . Imports by the Soviet Union from GreatBritain increased from 49 million rubles in 1923-24 to 101million in 1926-27 ; exports to Great Britain increased from81 million to 199 million during the period . The severanceof relations in 1927 gave a serious setback to the trade relations .Exports to the U .S .S.R . suffered especially, declining by morethan half in the following two years . In 1929 relations wereagain resumed and the Soviet Union was included among thecountries to which credits for exports could be guaranteed bythe British Government under the Overseas Trade Act of1920. A temporary trade agreement was signed on April 16,1930. In 1931 government-guaranteed credits totaling six mil-lion pounds were extended to the U .S .S.R. The credits were of

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U .S .S .R .

323

24 months' duration ; the government guaranty covered 75 percent of the amount .

As a result of these developments imports from Great Brit-ain increased from 47 million rubles in 1927-28 to 92 millionin 1932, during a period when British exports to other coun-tries showed a sharp drop . Soviet exports to England rose from151 million rubles in 1928 to 266 million in 1931, recording adrastic decline in the following year . The U.S.S.R . rose from16th among British markets in 1930 to seventh in 1932, itsshare of the total exports doubling. The U.S .S.R. became oneof the principal purchasers of equipment and metals of Britishproduction, imports of which totaled 51 million rubles in 1931and 73 million in 1932 . Exports of machine tools to theU.S.S.R. in these two years made up 64 and 8o per cent, re-spectively, of total shipments . The Soviet Union is also a largepurchaser of colonial products re-exported from Great Britain,such as rubber, jute and nonferrous metals .

The following table shows the share of the Soviet Unionin exports of certain products from Great Britain during1929-1931 (in thousands of pounds sterling)

1929

1930

1931

In October, 1932, it was announced in the House of Com-mons that in the three years from August, 1929, the amount

Exports toU .S .S .R .

per cent Exports to per cent Exports to per centof total U .S .S .R. of totalof total U .S S .R.

Machine tools 101 .0 4 .7 225 .0 12 .2 1,434 64 .2Ferro-tungsten 59 . 3 42 .2 83 .3 6o .I 151 . 7 87 .5Generators 107 .2 15 .3 89 .7 10 .2 194.2 25 . 4Equipment for gas

& chemical plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 .0 29 .0 86 .8 36 .2Drilling tools 18 .4 5 .4 42 .1 15 .9 293 .0 70 .8Air compressors o ., o .o6 8 .z 3 . 9 91 .2 46 .2Grinding tools 13 .4 5 .9 32 .7 16 .5 157 .9 62 .7Flour mill equipment 14.2 10 .5 19 .6 18 .7 180 .4 76 .8Forming tools 0 .4 0 .3 15 .7 10 .3 8S .9 62 .0Mining machinery 2 .3 2 .5 7 .6 7 .6 140.8 70.3Steam and hydraulic

engines 198 .2 21 .9 173 .8 24 .0 462 .3 56 .o

324


of credits to the U .S .S.R. covered by the Export Credits Guar-antee Department had totaled £17,000,000 of which the liabil-ity assumed by the government was approximately £12,000,-coo . In March, 1933, it was stated that of this liability about£5,000,000 had been paid off by the Soviet Union .

In the past five years Great Britain has taken from 18 to33 per cent of total Soviet exports, being the leading market .The principal commodities exported are lumber, of which from33 to 45 per cent of the total has been shipped to England inthe past few years, grain-from 40 to 6o per cent, oil-from10 to 20 per cent, and furs-about 35 per cent. Other im-portant items have been butter, of which England took over6o per cent in 1931-1933 oilcake-39 per cent, and cannedgoods-7o per cent.

In October, 1932, as a consequence of obligations enteredinto at the Ottawa Conference, the British Government gavesix months' notice of termination of the trade agreement . OnMarch 6, 1933, following agitation over the arrest and trialof some British engineers in the U.S.S.R ., the English Parlia-ment passed a law authorizing an embargo on the importationof Soviet products . An embargo on the principal products im-ported from the U .S .S.R . was declared on April 19, 1933 . Inreply the Soviet Government issued an order to cease purchasingoperations in Great Britain, chartering of English steamers, etc .

During the World Economic Conference (on July 1,1933) the British Government lifted the embargo, followingwhich the retaliatory measures of the Commissariat for For-eign Trade were revoked and the sentences of the British en-gineers commuted .

Imports of the U .S .S.R. from England in 1933 were re-duced to about a third of those of the preceding year . Exportsto Great Britain showed a much smaller decline-37 per cent-amounting to 87 million rubles in 1 933 .


375

On Feb. 16, 1933, a new trade agreement was signed atLondon between the two countries . This provides for recipro-cal most-favored nation treatment for the goods, ships andcitizens of both countries (with certain exceptions) and forcredits to the U .S.S.R. on the same basis as to other countries .The Soviet Union agrees gradually to bring its expenditures inGreat Britain (for goods, shipping, etc.) closer to the amountof the proceeds from its sales to England . Expenditures are tobear the following ratios to proceeds in England : in 1 934-1 :1 .7 ; 1 935-1 : 1 .5 ; 1 936-1 : 1 .4 ; 1937-1 :1 .2 ; thereafterapproximately i:1.1. It is expected that this agreement willpave the way for a further growth of trade between the twocountries . In 1934 imports from Great Britain increased bymore than 50 per cent, amounting to 46,265,000 rubles ;exports declined to 69 million rubles .

At the end of 1934 the trading organizations of theU.S .S.R. in Great Britain announced that, in view of the ex-cessive cost of government-guaranteed credits, they had adopteda policy of placing orders for cash . It was stated that thispolicy would be continued as long as credits were unavailableat a rate in accord with conditions prevailing on the moneymarket.

ItalyTrade between the Soviet Union and Italy began to show

a steady development on the basis of the trade agreement con-cluded between the two countries in 1924 and subsequent ac-cords . Exports to Italy increased from 15 million rubles in1923-24 to 53 million in 1930 . Imports from Italy weremuch smaller but nevertheless increased from a little over onemillion to i i million rubles during the period . The Soviet-Italian credit agreement in 1931 gave a great stimulus to pur-chases of Italian products for the U .S .S.R .

Government-guaranteed credits to the U .S .S.R. were au-

326


thorized under a general export credit scheme enacted in 1927(the government guarantee covering 65 per cent), but thesecredits were limited in extent. In August, 193o, a law was

passed in Italy providing credits to the U .S .S.R. to the amount

of 200 million lire annually, with the government guaranteeing

75 per cent . On April 18, 1931, an agreement was signed atRome providing for credits to the amount of 350 million lireon orders to be placed in 1931 . The average credits rangedfrom nine to 42 months, depending on the type of goods, with

a general average for all goods (except ships) of about 25

months. The average for various types of machinery and equip-ment ranged from 21 to 28 months. The final payment on

equipment purchases were generally due in 36 months and for

ships in 54 months. The insurance premiums ranged from one

to 1 .4 per cent .A new credit agreement was signed on May 6, 1 933, pro -

viding for credits of 200 million lire during 1933. The terms

were in general similar to those of the earlier agreement, exceptthat average credits were set at about 19/ months, with finalpayments on machinery and equipment due in 27 months from

the date of delivery .Under these arrangements imports from Italy increased

from I1 million rubles in 1930 to 30 million in 1931 and 27million in 1932, declining to 17 million rubles in 1933. Italy

rose from 21st among the countries exporting to the U .S .S.R .

in 1930 to seventh and fifth, respectively, in the following twoyears. Whereas in the earlier year exports to Italy were almost

five times the imports, in the three years 1931-1933 exportswere only about 20 per cent larger than imports from Italy .

The principal products purchased in Italy are electrical equip-ment, ships, bearings, machinery, and electric locomotives. The

U.S.S.R . took 48 per cent of total Italian shipments of ma-chinery and electrical apparatus in 1931 as compared with four

per cent in 1929. In 1932 65 per cent of the electrical equip-

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U.S .S .R .

327

ment and 92 per cent of the ball-bearing exports of Italy wentto the U.S.S.R ., and in 1931 22 .5 per cent of the automobileexports.

The Soviet Union ships to Italy principally wheat, oil, coal,lumber and various ores. About 15 per cent of total oil exports,four per cent of lumber shipments, six per cent of grain andone-third of coal shipments go to Italy .

On the same day that the 1933 credit agreement was signeda new customs convention was concluded between the twocountries, replacing the one of 1924 . The new agreementgrants each country most-favored-nation treatment . A non-aggression treaty, covering economic as well as political mat-ters, was signed on Sept . 2, 1 933 .

FranceThe development of trade with France had been hampered

by the lack of a trade agreement, which was signed only earlyin 1934, and of facilities for financing exports to the U .S.S.R .Nevertheless, imports from France increased from nine millionrubles in 1924-25 to 30 million in 1930 . In the following threeyears, partly because of the absence of suitable credit arrange-ments, there was a sharp decline, France dropping fromsixth place among the countries exporting to the U .S .S.R. in1930 to 13th in 1 933 .

Exports from the Soviet Union increased from 22 millionrubles in 1924-25 to 44 million in 1930, declining again to 23million rubles in 1933 . In October, 1930, the French Govern-ment issued a decree providing that certain of the most im-portant commodities imported from the U.S .S.R . could bebrought in only by means of special licenses . These discrimina-tory restrictions were answered by orders of the Soviet Gov-ernment to reduce to the utmost trade with France . The decreewas rescinded by the French Government on July 11, 1931,and the Soviet counter-measures revoked a few days later.

328


Whereas before the war imports from France consistedprincipally of consumers' goods and luxuries, they now consistmainly of machinery, metals and automotive equipment . Theexports from France to the U .S .S.R. of some of the principalitems in 1929-1931 were as follows :

The chief commodities exported to France are flax, manga-nese ore, timber and oil . In the years 1931-1933 from three tofive per cent of the timber shipments, about 18 per cent of theoil and eight per cent of the fur exports went to France .Contracts signed in 1932 between the Societe des Produits duNaphte Russe and Petrofina Franfaise call for the delivery oflarge quantities of Soviet oil for a period of five years. Consid-erable oil is supplied for the French Navy . In the past fiveyears the U .S .S.R . has supplied about 14 per cent of the oilproducts, seven per cent of the lumber and from 17 to 50 percent of the flax imported by France .

On Jan . 11, 1934, a Franco-Soviet trade agreement wassigned after protracted negotiations. This provided for raisingthe quotas on Soviet products imported into France as well asfor increased purchases in France by the U.S.S.R ., for whichcredits were to be extended . The credits were to be securedby stocks of the Soviet oil marketing organization in France .This agreement was of a temporary character and a protocolconcluded between the two countries on December 9, 1 934,provided for the starting of negotiations for a permanent tradeagreement. In the meantime the temporary accord was toremain in force .

1929 1930 1931

Wool 54 .0(in million francs)

37.2 . . . . . .Metals & Alloys 11 .6 24 .9 19 .4Machinery & parts 33 .3 34.0 17 .4Aviation equipment & Auto-

mobiles 23 .1 38 .4 13 .3Ships 88 .5


329

The signing of the agreement had an immediately beneficialeffect on trade. Imports from France in 1934, totaling ii,-636,00o rubles, were more than double those of the precedingyear. Exports, at 21,879,ooo rubles, were four per cent lessthan in 1 933 .

Scandinavian CountriesA law passed by the Norwegian Storthing provides for govern-

ment guarantees on Soviet orders. Up to 1929 this applied onlyto fish and herring but later it was extended to cover otherproducts. Before 1929 the government guarantee covered 66per cent of the cost of the goods, the remainder being paid incash. Since 1929 the guarantee extends to 75 per cent of thecost, while credits are also extended for the remaining 25 percent. In the four years 1929-1932 the amount of govern-ment-guaranteed credits extended to the U .S.S.R . in Norwaytotaled 77 .5 million kroner. The agreement of May 29,1933 provided for credits of one year .

Every year an agreement regulating trade is concluded be-tween the two countries and the government guaranteesstarted in 1922 have been renewed by the Norwegian Govern-ment from year to year. Aside from herring and other fish, ofwhich Russia has been the principal Norwegian market formany years, a considerable quantity of nonferrous metals andferro-alloys is exported to the U .S .S .R . The Soviet Union took48 per cent of total aluminum exports from Norway in 1931and 6o per cent in 1932 ; 22 per cent of the nickel exports in1932 ; and 25 per cent of chrome iron exports in 1931 and50 per cent in 1932 . Grain and timber make up about 80-90per cent of total Soviet exports to Norway . The former ac-counted for 41 per cent of total Norwegian imports in 1931and 28 per cent in 1932 ; the latter for 27 .5 and 6o per cent .

Imports from Norway in the past few years have beenconsiderably greater than before the war. They increased from

330


five million rubles in 1928 to i 9 million in 1931, declining bymore than a half in the following three years on account of thereduction in purchases of herring . Exports have been much less,averaging a little over four million rubles annually in thepast five years .

In Denmark the government guarantees credits on exports tothe U .S.S.R. to the extent of 85 per cent under the generalscheme of export credits. The premium charged for such guar-antees amounts to three per cent for two-year credits and sixper cent for four-year credits (i .e ., i/ per cent annually) .

Both imports from and shipments to Denmark have beenconsiderably smaller than before the war, the former averagingfour million and exports twelve million rubles a year from1929 to 1933 . The principal exports are grain, timber and oiland principal imports industrial and electrical machinery, andiron and steel .From 1929 to 1932, Soviet imports from Sweden averaged

over 18 million rubles a year, slightly more than the prewar .In 1933 they dropped to less than a third of the average forthe preceding years . Exports to Sweden averaged five millionrubles annually from 1929-1933, about a half of the prewar.The imports consist principally of industrial and electricalequipment and precious metals . Shipments to Sweden are chieflyof oil, timber, coal and oil cake .

Baltic Countries

From 1928 to 1932 Soviet purchases from Latvia comprisedfrom ten to 20 per cent of the total Latvian exports, and aneven greater part of the export of specific commodities, such aswoolen and cotton textiles, leather articles, machines, railroadcars, etc. (from 8o to 10o per cent in 1931) . Imports fromLatvia rose from 4.4 million lats (1 lat = $o.326) in 1925-26 to 40.1 million in 1929, declining again in the followingyears. Soviet exports to Latvia amounted to 18,319,000 lats

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U.S .S .R . 3 3 1

in 1927, dropping to 8 .5 million in 1932 . The proportionof Latvian imports from the U .S .S.R. to its total importsincreased, however, from six per cent in 1928 to ten per centin 1932 .

Exports to Lithuania exceeded four million rubles in 1931and 1932 and imports averaged 1 .3 million rubles in thoseyears. Purchases from the U .S .S.R . have comprised from threeto seven per cent of total Lithuanian imports, while exports tothe Soviet Union made up about four per cent of the totalin 1 93 1-1 932 .

Under the stimulus of a trade agreement signed in 1929trade with Estonia for a time showed considerable increase,in 1931 exports amounting to 8.4 and imports to 2 .1 millionrubles . The principal product imported from Estonia is paper,of which the U .S.S.R. formerly took from 40 per cent (1929)to 6o per cent (1931) of the total Estonian exports . Theprincipal commodities purchased by Estonia from the U .S.S.R .are oil products, grain and sugar .

Soviet-Finnish trade turnover at its peak in 1 9 2 9-1 930averaged 17 million rubles, of which exports to Finland totaled5 .4 million and imports 11 .6 million rubles. During 1932,the U.S .S.R. supplied 5 .2 per cent of Finland's imports andtook 1 .5 per cent of its exports . Oil, lumber and grain are theprincipal commodities shipped to Finland, while paper andmetal products are the chief imports from Finland .

Netherlands

Trade with the Netherlands has averaged 33 million rublesannually in the past five years, exports to that country makingup 26.5 million rubles of this sum . In 1934 imports fromHolland rose to 15 .8 million rubles, that country ranking fifthin Soviet imports and fourth among the markets of the U .S .S .R .

332


A considerable proportion of the Dutch imports from theU.S.S.R. is re-exported, sometimes after undergoing furtherprocessing. Among the Soviet products imported primarily fordomestic use are grain, vegetable oils, coal and oil . TheU.S .S.R. supplies a substantial share of total imports of someof these commodities-12 .5 per cent of the wheat, 2o percent of the rye and barley, 28 per cent of the soy beans, prac-tically 100 per cent of the sunflower oil and 42 per cent of thepetroleum imported by the Netherlands in 1932 were of Sovietorigin . Of total Dutch exports in 1932 the Soviet Union took46 per cent of the precision instrument shipments, 6 .7 per centof tools and machinery, 5 .6 per cent of tin and 11 per cent ofquinine .

BelgiumSoviet exports to Belgium consist principally of wheat, flax,

coal, lumber and oil, and imports of non-ferrous metals,chemicals and machines. In the five years 1930-1934 ship-ments to Belgium averaged 27 million rubles a year whileimports from Belgium averaged four million rubles .

GreeceTrade with Greece increased considerably after the signing

of a trade treaty in June, 1929 . From 1930 to 1934 exportsaveraged eight million rubles (mainly wheat, coal and oil) .Imports averaged less than one million rubles (principallyfruits, tobacco, olives, etc .) .

fl ustria

In October, 1927, an agreement between the Soviet tradedelegation in Austria and the municipality of Vienna providedfor a guaranty by the latter for credits extended on Sovietorders placed with Vienna firms and executed mainly in thatcity. The guaranty covered 70 per cent of the amount of the

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U.S.S.R.

333

orders of a total value up to i oo million Austrian schillings(about $15,000,000) . Partly under the stimulus of suchcredits, imports from Austria increased from 11 million rublesin 1924-25 to 23 million in 1929 . Austria was eighth amongthe countries exporting to the Soviet Union and the U .S.S.R .became one of the most important markets of Austria formachinery and equipment and iron and steel . Exports to Austriawere much less, totaling only eight million rubles at theirhighest in 1929 . During the past few years various discrimina-tory restrictions by the Austrian Government affecting Sovietproducts have resulted in very nearly wiping out the tradebetween the two countries . Such measures include : preferentialtreatment to competitors of the U .S.S.R. in supplying agricul-tural products to Austria ; the raising of the duties in 1931 onthe principal commodities exported by the Soviet Union, in themajority of cases by 100 per cent ; the prohibition of the im-portation of many items (by a decree issued in March, 1 933)making up about 50 per cent of total Soviet exports to Austria .

Poland

Imports from Poland have exceeded exports by a substantialamount in recent years . This has been due in part to restrictionsand high tariffs affecting a number of the most important So-viet exports. The continuance of such measures caused theU.S .S.R. greatly to reduce imports in recent years, which fellfrom a yearly average of 30 million rubles in 1929-1931 tonine million in the following two years. However, in the pastyears, with the visit of a Polish trade delegation to the U.S.S.R .,the conclusion of a non-aggression pact, and modifications inthe restrictions and duties on Soviet products, the relations havebeen considerably improved . Aside from the large favorablebalance of trade, Poland receives considerable sums in paymentfor transit Soviet goods shipped on Polish railways .

The principal products bought by the U .S .S.R. in Poland


are metals (mainly iron and steel) and metal products, ofwhich the U .S .S.R. in the past few years has taken from about45 to 8o per cent of total Polish shipments . The chief exportsfrom the Soviet Union are furs, iron and manganese ores,tobacco, fish, rags, chemicals, thread and oil cake .

ASIATIC COUNTRIES

Turkey

Imports from Turkey increased from three million rublesin 1924 to I I million in 1930 ; exports from Io to 16 millionrubles. In September, 1931, a new trade agreement went intoeffect which replaced the agreement of 1927 . The developmentof trade was hampered by the condition of the Turkish na-tional economy, necessitating a drastic limitation of imports intoTurkey. A supplementary accord signed on April 17, 1932,provides for an equality of exports and imports between thetwo countries . The relations between the two countries werestrengthened as a result of an exchange of visits by leadingofficials of the respective governments in 1932 and 1933 . Thevisit of the Turkish delegation, headed by the Premier, to Mos-cow in 1932 resulted in an agreement whereby the U .S.S.R .granted long-term credits to Turkey to the value of $8,ooo,-ooo. This is to be expended for supplying machinery, equip-ment and technical assistance for a series of industrial enter-prises to be constructed in Turkey . The first of these factories,a large textile mill, is being designed by Soviet specialists andwill be equipped with Soviet machinery .The U.S.S.R. exports to Turkey principally consumers'

goods (cloth, etc .), oil, and building materials . It is expectedthat the role of the Soviet Union as a supplier of machineryand technical assistance to Turkish industry and agriculturewill develop. The Soviet Union buys mainly agricultural prod-ucts, such as cotton, dried fruits and cocoons, from Turkey .

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U .S .S .R . 3 3 5

Persia

The Soviet Union has carried on a large trade with Persia, insome years the turnover exceeding the substantial prewar trade .Whereas the turnover in 1913 totaled ioi million rubles, theaverage for the three years 1928-1930 was about 125 million .From 1924 to 1932 Persia was either third or fourth as a sup-plier to the U .S .S .R . and ranked from third to sixth as a mar-ket for Soviet products. In 1933, as a result of some difficultiesin the trade relations, it dropped to ninth place both in Sovietexports and imports, but in 1934 the turnover increased again .

Imports from Persia increased from 52 million rubles in1924-25 to 64 million in 1928-29 ; exports from 28 to 74million rubles during the same period . In 1929 the trade agree-ment which had been entered into on Oct . 1, 1927, expired .The unregulated nature of the relations that followed, the at-tempts on the part of hostile interests to keep out Soviet prod-ucts, but principally the depression in Persia, led to a de-cline in the trade . The Persian Government established a statemonopoly of foreign trade in connection with which quotaswere set up for some imports and others prohibited with theaim of effecting a balance of imports and exports . Exports toPersia from the U .S .S.R . dropped from 6o million rubles in1930 to 32 million in 1931 . Nevertheless, the drop in tradebetween the two countries was less than the general decline inPersian foreign trade .

A new trade agreement was signed on Oct . 27, 1931, theU.S.S.R. being the first country to recognize the Persian trademonopoly, which aroused considerable opposition from othercountries, and to do business on that basis . Contingents wereestablished for Soviet exports in accordance with which theU.S.S.R. was to supply from 54 to 100 per cent of total Per-sian imports of such products as sugar, matches, oil, rubber,porcelain and glassware, cement, metals, cotton cloth, paper,

336


machinery and equipment. In the following year the trade wasmaintained at a fairly high level but some points of dispute ledto a drop of 73 per cent in the trade turnover in 1933 . An ex-change of notes in October, 1933, settled the matters at issueand a new agreement was signed early in 1934 which resulted

in a 28 per cent increase in the turnover that year . The princi-pal items imported from Persia are cotton, wool, rice, driedfruit, cocoons, skins, leather and cattle .

Japan

Trade with Japan has been greater than before the war . Anagreement regulating the relations between the two countries

was signed on Jan. 20, 1925 . Later the Soviet Union grantedlarge concessions to Japanese interests for the exploitation of

the oil and mineral resources of Northern Sakhalin . A fishing

convention entered into in 1927 and supplemented by severalsubsequent agreements gave Japan the right to carry on fishing

operations in the waters off the Pacific Coast of the U.S .S .R .

For a number of years after the conclusion of the treatybetween the two countries there was a steady growth of trade .

Imports from Japan increased from less than three millionrubles in 1926 to 17 million in 1930 and shipments to Japanfrom 13 million in 1926 to 20 million rubles in 1931 . (In1913 exports and imports combined were only six millionrubles.) If the exports and imports of the Japanese concessionand fishing enterprises in Soviet territory are added, the actualturnover would come to several times the totals shown in thecustoms figures .

From 1928 to 1930 timber made up from 43 to 62 per centof Soviet exports to Japan and fish products from 13 to 23 percent. Later oil products became the most important item, con-stituting almost 50 per cent of the total exports in 193 2-1 933.In September, 1932, a contract was signed for the sale of alarge quantity of Soviet gasoline in Japan for a period of five


337

years. Other products shipped from the U .S .S.R . in substan-tial quantities include platinum, asbestos and manganese ore .The principal imports from Japan in the past few yearshave been tea, hemp seines and nets, iron and steel productsand nonferrous metals .

On August i, 1930, a law was passed in Japan providingfor government guarantees for export credits to the U .S .S.R .and other countries . In 1930 such guarantees covered theamount of 350,000 yen-37 per cent of the amount of thecredits; in 1931-1,000,000 yen, 53 per cent ; in 1932--2,410,000, 85 per cent of the amount of the credits. Never-theless, in the past few years, as a result of discriminatory meas-ures against Soviet products and other factors, there has been adecline in both exports and imports .

The consummation, in March, 1935, after negotiations last-ing almost two years, of the sale of the Chinese Eastern Rail-way to Manchukuo by the U.S.S.R. settled one of the chiefpoints of dispute between the Soviet Union and Japan . Of thesale price of 140 million Japanese yen (exclusive of retirementpayments to Soviet employees amounting to approximately 30million yen), one-third is to be paid in cash and the remainingtwo-thirds in the form of goods to be delivered by Japaneseand Manchukuoan firms in accordance with orders to be placedby the Trade Representation of the U .S.S.R. in Japan over aperiod of three years. The Japanese Government guaranteesall payments due to the Soviet Union under the agreement .

Sinkiang (Western China) .Trade with Sinkiang in the past few years has exceeded the

prewar turnover . As against 18 million rubles in 1913 it totaled24 million in 1931 and 3o million rubles in 1933 . Sinkiangwas one of the few countries whose imports from U .S.S.R. rosein 1933, it ranking third as against ninth in 1932 and 17th in


1931 . Among the countries exporting to the U .S .S.R. it wastenth in 1932 and 1 933 .

Cotton cloth makes up about 70 per cent of the sales toSinkiang, followed by metals, metal products and sugar . TheU .S.S.R. imports chiefly wool (about 45 per cent), cattle, hidesand furs. The bulk of Sinkiang's foreign trade is carried onwith the Soviet Union, accessibility to which is much greater

than to Eastern China or India. Recently an increased demandhas developed for Soviet machinery and for technical assistancein cattle raising and cultivation of technical crops .

China

The U.S.S.R. was the first country to renounce extra-terri-toriality and all special privileges in China, this being effectedby the Peking Agreement of 1924 . For a number of yearsthereafter there was a considerable development of trade be-

tween the two countries . Imports from China reached a total

of 32 million rubles in 1927-28 and exports 17 million rubles

in 1929 . However, the events of 1927 and 1929 (the break-ing off of diplomatic relations and the conflict on the Chinese

Eastern Railway), and the economic crisis and civil war inChina led to a sharp reduction in trade . By 1933 imports fellto less than three million rubles and exports to seven million .The principal products shipped to China are cotton cloth, oil,coal, lumber and fish. The chief imports from China are tea(about 8o per cent of the total), grain, hides, fats and oils .The resumption, in December, 1932, of diplomatic relationsfurnished a basis for regulating and expanding the trade

between the Soviet Union and China .

Outer Mongolia and Tannu-Tuva

In recent years the U .S .S.R . has taken an increasingly impor-tant part in the foreign trade of these two young republics,the trade with which was formerly dominated by China . The


339

proportion of Mongolian exports going to the U .S .S.R. in-creased from 13 per cent in 1924 to 50 per cent in 1927 whilethat to China dropped from 86 to 50 per cent . Since then, espe-cially with the strengthening of the state monopoly of foreigntrade in Mongolia, the U .S .S.R . has taken a considerablylarger share . Similarly, the bulk of the imports now come fromthe Soviet Union as against only 13 per cent in 1924 .

Exports from the U .S .S.R. to Mongolia increased from lessthan three million rubles in 1924-25 to 17 million in 193o and45 million rubles in 1934 . In 1932-33 it was third andin 1931 fourth among Soviet export markets as against tenthin 1930. Imports from Mongolia also showed a rapid growth,going from less than four million rubles in 1924 to about 20million in 1930, 29 million in 1931, and 18 million rubles in

1934. It was fourth among the supplying countries of theU.S.S.R. in 1933-1934, seventh in 1932, and eighth in 1 930-1 93 1 -

The Soviet Union exports a wide variety of goods to Mon-golia, the most important of which are cotton cloth, sugar, oilproducts, flour, grits, cigarettes, matches and metal products .Exports of the latter group have shown an especially largegrowth in connection with the program of industrial construc-tion undertaken by the Mongolian Government with the tech-nical assistance of the U .S .S .R. Imports consist principally ofwool, cattle, hides and furs .

Trade with the neighboring republic of Tuva increasedfrom three million rubles in 1930 to more than nine million in

1934 . The U .S .S.R . supplies Tuva with practically all of itsimport requirements and takes virtually its entire exports . Themain exports from the U .S .S.R . are cotton cloth, tobacco,sugar, metals and metal products . The chief import productsare cattle, wool, hides and skins .

340


ll f ghanistan

While trade with Afghanistan showed rather steady devel-opment up to 1932, it has been hampered by the absenceof a trade agreement . Soviet trading organizations are thusprevented from establishing offices in Afghanistan, thetrade being confined to a few border points . The growth oftrade in the face of these and other obstacles has been due tothe proximity of the Soviet Union to the principal centers ofNorth Afghanistan and to preferential treatment granted bythe Soviet Union as respects licenses and duties.

Imports from Afghanistan increased from four millionrubles in 1926-27 to 12 million in 1932 and exports fromthree million to 15 million rubles . The prewar turnover (12million rubles was exceeded by 1928 . In 1933-1934 the tradeturnover dropped off considerably . The Soviet Union shipssugar, textiles, oil, rubber, matches and metal products and re-ceives mainly wool, cotton and raw hides in return .

Egypt

While the value of Soviet exports to Egypt declined con-siderably during the period from 1929 to 1932, there was anincrease in the total tonnage . Total exports to Egypt in 1932amounted to 716,ooo pounds sterling, an increase of 63 percent over the previous year . The principal products shippedwere coal and oil. Imports from Egypt, consisting almost en-tirely of cotton, totaled £136,000, showing a considerabledecline from 1931 (£1,701,000) . In the following years thetrade turnover recorded a further drop.

India

Soviet imports from India have declined considerably inrecent years, largely because of increasing domestic production .In 1929, imports, consisting chiefly of tea, rubber and jute,totaled more than 28 million rubles, declining to 9,140,000 in

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U.S.S.R.

34.1

1931 and only 629,000 rubles in 1934 . Exports to India,consisting almost exclusively of oil products, have likewise de-clined, amounting in 1934 to 2,769,000 rubles as comparedwith 10,152,000 rubles in 1931 .

NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA

Canada

For a number of years treaty relations between the U .S .S .R .and Canada followed somewhat the course of Anglo-Sovietrelations. An exchange of notes between the U .S .S.R . andGreat Britain on July 3, 1922, provided for extending thetrade agreement between those two countries to Canada, inview of the desire to this effect expressed by the CanadianGovernment. Following the annulment of the Anglo-Soviettrade agreement, diplomatic relations between the U .S .S.R .and Canada were severed on June 3, 1927 . The temporarytrade agreement concluded with England in 1930 was not ex-tended to Canada .

Imports by the Soviet Union from Canada increased from2.4 million rubles in 1924-25 to 11 .4 million in 1927-28 . Ex-ports were much less and in the ten years from 1921 to 1930Canada accumulated a favorable balance of $25,000,000 .Purchases in Canada consisted principally of machinery andequipment and nonferrous metals . It was only in 1930, withthe development of imports of Soviet anthracite coal by Can-ada, that a parity of imports and exports was reached .On Feb . 27, 1931, an order-in-council of the Canadian

Government prohibited the importation into Canada of coal,pulpwood and lumber, asbestos and furs from the Soviet Union .The grounds given were the alleged existence of "forcedlabor" in Soviet industries . The order affected principally coal,since none of the other products specified, except a small quan-tity of furs, was being exported to Canada, and a subsequent


ruling removed furs from the list of banned products. TheSoviet Government retaliated by issuing a decree ordering thereduction to the utmost of purchases in Canada and the use ofCanadian shipping . Imports have averaged only about a mil-lion rubles a year in the past three years, the only substantialtransaction being one involving a partial exchange of Sovietpetroleum for Canadian aluminum, in 1932 .

South Imerica

Yuzhamtorg, the Soviet commercial organization in SouthAmerica, was organized at Buenos Aires, in Argentina, in theFall of 1925 . During the five years 1925-26-1929-30Soviet-South American trade totaled over $8o,ooo,ooo, ofwhich purchases by the U .S .S.R . made up almost 9o per centand exports of Soviet products only 1 o per cent. Trade withArgentina made up 52 per cent of the total, with Uruguay, 22and Brazil, 14 per cent. The chief purchases in Argentinawere of leather, tanning materials, sheep and wool ; in Uru-guay, wool and leather ; in Brazil, leather, and in Chile, ni-trates, iodine and wool . Of the Soviet exports to South America,lumber made up 40 per cent and petroleum about a third .Other products included salt, anthracite coal, platinum, causticsoda and carbonates. In the four years ended with 1929-30imports from South America averaged 27 .5 million rubles an-nually, while the maximum exports (in 1929-30) totaled 9 .4million rubles .

In the Summer of 1931 police raids were made on theoffices and warehouses of Yuzhamtorg and many employeeswere arrested. These acts, declared to be based on charges thatemployees of the organization were engaging in political ac-tivity, made the continuance of business impossible and theoffices were closed . As a result, trade with Argentina dwindledto almost negligible proportions . Imports from Argentina fell

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U.S .S.R . 343

from 28 million rubles in 1929 to an average of about onemillion rubles in the last three years .

The Yuzhamtorg was organized anew in 1931 at Monte-video, Uruguay, the first country in South America to havediplomatic relations with the U.S.S.R. So far, however, thetrade turnover has been small, averaging about three millionrubles annually in 1932-1 934 .

CREDITS AND FOREIGN INDEBTEDNESS

In the early years of Soviet foreign trade the U .S.S.R. wasunable to make purchases abroad except for cash or with onlyminor credits . The growth of exports and imports, how-ever, stimulated interest abroad in the possibility of expandingtrade with the U .S .S.R. This, in turn, led to the extension ofthe large government-guaranteed credits described above andto some substantial private credits .

The foreign indebtedness of the Soviet Union was reducedfrom 1,400,000,000 gold rubles in 1931 to 450,000,000rubles at the end of 1933 . The remainder was due to be paidoff mainly by the end of 1935 . In the 4Y4 years from April I,1928, to Dec. 31, 1932, the amount of money paid out bySoviet organizations for imported merchandise totaled 3,533900,000 gold rubles ($1,820,000,000 at the old parity of thedollar) . In addition, large sums were expended for transpor-tation, warehousing, and administrative expenses of the tradingorganizations abroad .

Every obligation entered into by Soviet organizations hasbeen fulfilled. There have been no defaults or declarations ofmoratoria . Payments to foreign countries are carefullyplanned in advance in accordance with the plan of foreigntrade. Aside from the proceeds from the sale of its productsabroad, the U .S .S.R . obtains considerable foreign currency orprecious metals through the tourist trade and remittances. It is


estimated that since the beginning of development of touristtravel in 1929, about ioo,ooo foreign tourists have visitedthe U.S .S.R. The Torgsin (State Company for Trade withForeigners) operates a large chain of stores in hundreds oflocalities in the Soviet Union which sell only for foreign cur-rency or for certificates given in exchange for precious metals,gold, jewelry, etc . The turnover of this organization hasamounted to many millions of gold rubles annually .

The Soviet Union, being a leading gold producing country,is able to redress unfavorable balances of payment by means ofshipments of gold of its own production . For instance, goldshipments to Germany from 1931 to 1933 totaled $146,000,-ooo. Gold production in 1933 was estimated at over 100,000,-000 rubles and in 1934 an increase of about 50 per cent wasrecorded . Besides, the U .S.S.R. is the leading producer and ex-porter of platinum, the exports of which are not included inthe customs statistics. It is estimated that the Soviet Union ac-counts for about a half of the world output of platinum .

Aside from the rapidly increasing receipts of gold andforeign exchange, the large favorable balance of trade ac-cumulated by the Soviet Union in 1933 and 1934 (333 mil-lion rubles) has been an important factor in brigning about itsgreatly improved international financial position . As a resultof this situation a policy was recently inaugurated of makinga considerable part of the purchases abroad in cash, when thecredit conditions are not considered sufficiently favorable . Onseveral occasions (notably in England and Germany) the rightto utilize available credits has been renounced because of theirexcessive cost. In recent negotiations and in statements by Sovietauthorities the importance of long-term financial credits as anessential prerequisite for a large development of trade has beenemphasized . The first large credit of this character was that of200,000,000 marks extended by German banks in April, 1 935 .

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF THE U .S .S .R . 345

On June 3, 1935, negotiations were concluded providing fora credit to the U .S.S.R. of 250,000,000 kroner (about $Io,-ooo,ooo) by a consortium of Czechoslovakian banks . In bothcases the credits were for five years .

THE U.S.S .R . CHAMBER OF COMMERCEThe U.S .S.R. Chamber of Commerce was organized with

the object of promoting and facilitating trade between foreigncountries and the Soviet Union . The Chamber, whose mem-bership consists of officials of export and import organizationsof the U.S .S.R ., maintains offices in Leningrad (NaberezhnayaKrasnovo Flota, io) and in Moscow, (Kuibysheva, 6) .

The Chamber supplies foreign firms with data regardingeconomic conditions, trade legislation, transport and postalregulations, etc ., in the U .S .S.R. and performs a like servicefor Soviet organizations with regard to conditions abroad . Itmaintains contact with foreign commercial and industrial or-ganizations, organizes fairs and exhibits of Soviet goods, re-ceives and assists delegations of businessmen from abroadand, when commissioned to do so, files applications for patents,registered trade marks, etc., from foreign countries.

The Chamber also exercises supervision over the MaritimeArbitration Commission, organized in I93o, the duty of whichis to arbitrate differences mainly concerning remunerationarising from salvage and assistance at sea. The Commissiondeals almost exclusively with cases of salvage, e tc . in Sovietwaters, which previous to its organization had been settledby Lloyd's Commission or the German Maritime ArbitrationCourt .

FAIRS AND EXHIBITS

A number of permanent expositions of both export and im-port products have been organized in the Soviet Union . Partici-pation in some of these is open to foreign firms . These include

346


exhibits of machine tools, office equipment and other types ofmachinery and equipment . Arrangements for such participationby American firms may be made through the Amtorg TradingCorporation .

Soviet export organizations have participated in a large num-ber of international fairs held in foreign countries . In 1933 theU.S.S.R . Chamber of Commerce organized the participation ofthe Soviet Union in the Leipzig and Koenigsberg Fairs, theXXV International Paris Fair, the Colonial Exhibition at Mar-seilles and the Milan Fair. Permanent exhibits were also organ-ized at Kabul (Afghanistan) and Istanbul .

SHIPPING

In spite of the rapid development of the Soviet merchantmarine (from 336,000 tons in 1929 to 86o,ooo tons in 1 933),a considerable part of the goods exported and imported is stillcarried in foreign bottoms . The proportion of exports carriedby Soviet vessels increased from seven per cent in 1929 to tenper cent in 1933, of imports from 41 to 88 per cent. The sumsexpended for chartering foreign ships totaled $50,000,000in some years. From 1930 to 1932 the number of vessels char-tered averaged 3,600 a year and the annual tonnage 1 4,-200,000 tons .

CONCESSIONS AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CONTRACTS

The number of foreign concession enterprises in the SovietUnion has declined in recent years. In 1929 there were 59in operation and 27 in 1931, while a further reduction tookplace in later years. In most cases the enterprises were boughtup by the government. The most important existing concessionsare those held by Japanese interests in the fishing and miningindustries in the Far East. The Chief Concessions Committeeof the Council of People's Commissars, which formerly direct-ed this field, no longer functions and all matters connected


347

with concessions now come under the jurisdiction of the re-

spective commissariats .

Likewise, the number of contracts with foreign firms pro-

viding for technical assistance in Soviet industries has greatly

declined. The greater number of these agreements, which

totaled 134 at the beginning of 1931, were concluded in the

period from 1928 to 1931 and have since expired . About

two-thirds of the contracts were with American and German

firms, the remainder being scattered among France, Sweden,

England, Italy and other countries. Many individually engaged

foreign engineers, foremen and skilled mechanics are still

employed in Soviet industries, mainly in enterprises under the

control of the Commissariat of Heavy Industry . In April,

1932, the number of foreign employees in heavy industry alone

totaled 6,8oo .

PROSPECTS OF SOVIET FOREIGN TRADE

The following statement, from an address of A . P. Rosen-

goltz, Commissar for Foreign Trade, on April 23, 1933, inconnection with the fifteenth anniversary of the state monop-

oly of foreign trade, indicates the policy of the Soviet Govern-

ment with regard to the future development of foreign trade :

The first Five-Year Plan freed the Soviet Union from de-pendence on foreign countries in the decisive sectors of oureconomy. Due to the extraordinarily rapid rate of constructionin the first five-year period and our almost complete inability inthe preceding period to produce ourselves sufficient quantitiesof the necessary semi-manufactured products and equipment,we were forced, in many cases, to resort to the purchase of theseessential means of production abroad on terms very unfavorableto us . Often we had to make purchases on relatively short creditterms and to reconcile ourselves to considerable overpaymentin the credits extended-overpayments which were often con-cealed in artificially raised prices . That was the situation in thepast period .

348


Under present conditions, we have an entirely different set-up. We are no longer dependent on foreign sources . Now thatour hands are freed, we can either expand or contract our im-ports, depending on the terms our foreign suppliers proposeto us for the placing of orders, and depending on the rela-tions in the sphere of trade policy with countries in whichthese orders will be placed .

In our foreign trade operations during the Second Five-Yearperiod, we shall undertake an expansion of our imports only onthe basis of a considerable change in the financial-credit condi-tions for the placing of our orders, a lengthening of the termsand changing of the form of credit, and the conversion of thesefrom commercial into financial credits, the entire proceeds ofwhich will be employed for the purchases in the countries wheresuch credits are opened . . . . We shall take into account theconditions established in one or the other country for our ex-ports and the existence of normal trade and political relations .With the existence of such conditions, we could expand our pur-chases, and to such a considerable degree that they could becomea very substantial factor in the economy of the countries tradingwith us; but in the absence of these conditions our imports,naturally, will be contracted .

XII .

AMERICAN-SOVIET TRADE RELATIONS

Organizations Carrying on TradeTRADE between the United States and the Soviet Union isconducted mainly by the Amtorg Trading Corporation, 261Fifth Avenue, New York City . The Amtorg was organizedon May 27, 1924, under the laws of the State of New York,as the result of the consolidation of two previously existingcorporations, the Products Exchange Corporation and ArcosAmerica, Inc. Its paid up capital was originally $1,ooo,ooo,but was later increased to $3,000,000 . The Amtorg pur-chases the bulk of the products exported from this country tothe U.S .S .R ., sells the greater part of the goods imported intothe United States from the Soviet Union, and arranges fortechnical assistance by American firms or individual techni-cians in Soviet industries . It is the sole representative in thiscountry of most of the industrial and trading organizations ofthe U.S .S.R . Its main office in the U .S.S.R. is in Moscow(Sovietskaya Ploshchad 1) .

Purchases of cotton and textile machinery for the SovietUnion were formerly handled by the All-Russian Textile Syn-dicate, 39 Broadway, New York City, which was organizedin December 1923 . Other concerns, all in New York City,representing Soviet organizations in this country in specializedfields are : Am-Derutra Transport Corporation, 261 Fifth Ave-nue, which represents Soviet shipping organizations in the UnitedStates ; Amkino Corporation, 723 Seventh Avenue, whichdistributes Soviet films in this country and purchases Americanfilms for the U .S .S.R . ; Soviet Photo Agency, 723 Seventh

349

350


Avenue, distributors of Soviet news photographs, and Intour-ist, Inc., 545 Fifth Avenue, representative of the Soviet statetravel bureau . There are also a number of special technicalbureaus connected with the Amtorg Trading Corporationwhose function it is to supply Soviet industries with engineer-ing information and to arrange for technical assistance .

From 1924 to 193o about 53 per cent of the total tradebetween the two countries was handled by the Amtorg, 35per cent by the All-Russian Textile Syndicate, 5 per cent byCentrosoyuz and Selskosojuz (representatives in this countryof consumers' and agricultural cooperative organizations of theSoviet Union, now inactive), and the remainder by other rep-resentatives of Soviet organizations and by a few Americanfirms under special concession agreements . Since 1931 theAmtorg has conducted the great bulk of the trade .

Russian-American Trade Up to 1924Before the war the trade between the United States and

the Russian empire was relatively small . From 1910 to 1914annual exports averaged $24,604,0001 , the principal productsshipped to Russia being cotton, copper and other non-ferrousmetals, rosin, mining and other equipment, and agriculturalmachinery. Imports from Russia averaged $20,865,000 ayear. In 1913 furs, hides and leather made up 68 per centof the total imports and wool 12 per cent, the remaining itemsof importance being flax, manganese ore, licorice root, lumberand fish . Both exports to and imports from Russia made upa little over one per cent of the total American trade .

During the war heavy shipments of war materials weremade to Russia, mainly through the Far East, inasmuch asthe western border of the country was practically closed toforeign trade . Likewise, imports from Russia, which were

a In this chapter United States customs statistics are used throughout.

AMERICAN-SOVIET TRADE RELATIONS 351

greatly reduced, came largely by way of the Pacific . Duringthis period a series of loans, totaling about $86,ooo,ooo, wasextended to the Czarist government through leading Americanbanks .

After the advent of the Provisional Government, in March1917, the United States Government opened up credits (June-November, 1917) amounting to about $187,000,000 . Thesesums were in part expended after the collapse of the KerenskyGovernment by its still recognized representatives in the UnitedStates. In the period from 1917 to 1920 the trade betweenthe two countries was confined almost exclusively to those sec-tions occupied by the White armies . There was a virtualembargo on trade with Soviet Russia, although the UnitedStates did not officially participate in the blcokade against thatcountry.

In 1921 and 1922 the shipments to Soviet Russia consistedalmost entirely of foodstuffs and other materials sent to theregions stricken by the drought and famine of 1921 and han-dled largely by the American Relief Administration and theNansen Committee . A part of these goods was paid for ingold. During this period imports from Soviet Russia werealmost negligible .

llmerican-Soviet Trade Turnover from 1924 to 1 934

Trade between the United States and the U .S .S.R . on aregular basis began to develop at the end of 1923 and thebeginning of 1924, with the organization of the All-RussianTextile Syndicate and the Amtorg Trading Corporation . Forabout seven years after the resumption of regular trade rela-tions the turnover increased fairly steadily and rapidly . Exportsto the U.S.S.R. increased from $42,100,000 in 1924 to apeak of $114,400,000 in 1930 ; imports rose from $8,200,000to $24,400,000 in the same period . For the five years 1927-

352


1931 shipments to the Soviet Union averaged over 31/2 timesthe pre-war (1910-1914) ; imports were about 16 per centless than before the war . In the three years 1929-1931, 47per cent of the total exports and 38 per cent of the imports forthe eleven year period 1924-1934 were recorded. Beginningwith 1931 both exports and imports began to decline sharply,and by 1933 the turnover was less than a sixth of that recordedthree years before . The year 1934 marked a reversal of thisprocess, the trade showing a rise of 30 per cent .

In the eleven years from 1924 to 1934 exports totaled$639,700,000 and imports $156,800,000, the favorable bal-ance of trade thus recorded by the United States amounting to$482,900,000 . In 1930 and 1931 the favorable balanceexceeded $90,000,000 each year, making up more than aquarter of the total American favorable balance in the latteryear . The relationship between exports and imports has beenmore favorable for the United States than in the case of itstrade with any other large country. Only in 1933 did importsexceed exports, in that year by about $3,100,000 . The fol-lowing table shows exports to and imports from the U .S .S .R .for the years 1 924-1 934

s Unfavorable balance.3 Totals axe for years 1924-1934 only .

Importsfrom U .S .S .R .

Exportsto U .S .S .R .

TotalTrade

Balance inFavor of U .S .

1910-14 (average) $ 2o,865,000 $ 24,604,000 $ 45,469,000 $ 3,739,0001924 8,,68,8o, 42,103,713 50,272,514 33,934,9121925 13,236,673 68,906,060 8 2 , 1 42,733 55,669,3871926 14,121,992 49,905,642 64,02-7,634 35,783,6501927 12,876,791 64,921,693 77,798,484 52,044,9021928 14,024,525 74,091,235 88,115,760 60,066,7101929 22,551,434 85,011,847 107,563,281 62,460,4131930 24,385,786 114,398,537 138,784,323 90,012,7511931 13,206,392 103,716,832 116,923,224 90,510,4401932 9,735,411 12,640,891 22,376,302 2,905,4801933 12,120,148 8,971,465 21,091,613 3,148,683 a

1934 12,337,647 14,997,308 27,334,955 2,659,661TOTALS $156,765,6oo $639,665,223 $796,430,823 $482,899,623


Machinery and equipment of various kinds made up abouthalf of the total exports to the U.S.S.R. during the decadestarting with 1924, cotton somewhat less than 40 per centand other raw and semi-manufactured products (iron andsteel, non-ferrous metals, chemicals, etc .) the remainder . Inthe past few years, however, with shipments of cotton reducedto a small fraction of the former totals, exports of machineryand equipment have made up the great bulk (over 9o per cent)of the shipments . The imports from the Soviet Union consistmainly of raw materials and foodstuffs, the principal itemsbeing manganese ore, furs, lumber and pulpwood, sausagecasings, caviar, crabmeat, fresh or frozen fish, flax and hemp,platinum, iron ore, and anthracite coal .

SHARE OF SOVIET UNION IN U . S. FOREIGN TRADE

up to 1932 the Soviet UnionAs shown by the table above,played a much more importanttrade than did Russia before the war . Although total Ameri-can exports declined by more than 50 per cent from 1929 to

increase of 22 per cent .

role in the American export

1931, those to the U.S.S.R. showed anThe Soviet Union in 1931 took 4 .3 per cent of total Americanexports, almost four times the proportion recorded before thewar . It became the seventh largest foreign market of thiscountry in 1931 as compared with eighth in 1930 and 17thin 1929 . In 1934 it was 24th in rank . The United Stateswas for a number of years second (in 1930 first) among the

Exports to U.S.S.R .

Imports from U.S .S .R.(in per cent of total)

1910-14 1 .1 1 .21928 1 .4 0.31929 1 .6 0 .51930 3 .0 o .81931 4 .3 o .61932 o .8 0 .71933 0 .5 o .81934 0 .7 0 .7

3 5 4 HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

countries exporting to the Soviet Union . In 1932 and 1 933it dropped to sixth place and in 1934 it was fourth . In theperiod from 1927 to 1931 the United States supplied 20-25per cent of Soviet imports ; in 1932-1934, the proportion wasreduced to from five to eight per cent .

Imports from the U .S .S.R . have made up a smaller shareof the total American imports than before the war . In theyears from 1929 to 1934 they fluctuated between 0 .5 and o .8per cent as against 1 .2 per cent in 1910-1914 . In 1930,when imports were at their highest level, the Soviet Unionranked 26th among the countries exporting to the UnitedStates ; in 1931 it was 23rd, and in 1934-26th . From 1925to 1930 the United States took about four per cent of totalSoviet exports . From 1931 to 1934 the proportion was re-duced to about three per cent . In 1932 the United Stateswas ninth and in 1933 and 1934 eighth among the marketsof the Soviet Union .

Reasons for Growth in Trade and Later Decline

The two outstanding features of the trade between theUnited States and the Soviet Union have been : 1) the steadygrowth of trade, particularly of purchases for the U.S .S.R .,up to 193o, and the sharp decline in the past few years, and2) the wide disparity between exports to and imports from theSoviet Union . The substantial growth in exports to theU.S.S .R. reflected the high regard among Soviet engineersand executives for American technical methods and the dis-tinct preference for American machinery for many branchesof industry . It was considered that in many fields the characterand scope of the developments in the U.S.S.R . weresuch as to make the type of mass-production machinery devel-oped in this country better adapted for Soviet requirementsthan European products . The program of intensive industri-

AMERICAN-SOVIET TRADE RELATIONS 3 5 5

alization and of the reorganization of agriculture opened up,particularly in the period of the first Five-Year-Plan, a largenew market for industrial and electrical equipment, agricul-tural machinery, transportation equipment, etc .

Many Soviet engineering commissions were sent to thiscountry to study American industries, technical assistance con-tracts were concluded with a large number of leading American

firms and individual engineers, and purchases rose steadily .The Soviet Union became the most important market forAmerican industrial and agricultural equipment, in 193o and1931 taking 18.3 and 27.5 per cent, respectively, of totalindustrial equipment exports and 36.3 and 66 per cent of allagricultural machinery shipments. A substantial, though ir-regular, expansion of imports from the Soviet Union was alsorecorded=from an annual average of $12,500,000 in 1924-1928 to an average of $23,500,000 in 1929-1930 . Thegrowth of exports to the U .S .S.R. in the face of a large generaldecline in American foreign trade and the generally unfavor-able conditions existing for carrying on trade with the SovietUnion, owing to the absence of normal diplomatic relations,was a strong indication of the basic economic factors under-lying the trade between the two countries .

The drastic decline in exports beginning with 1932, byabout 9o per cent, was due primarily to the cumulative effectof difficulties which had begun to make themselves felt inearlier years . They were mainly of two kinds : the lack ofsatisfactory facilities for financing American exports to theU.S.S.R. and the various restrictions imposed on the importa-tion of Soviet products into this country . Commercial billsand acceptances of the Amtorg Trading Corporation couldnot be discounted and rediscounted in banks of the FederalReserve system . This led to the purchase of such bills atusurious rates of discount . Long-term credits (with maturi-

356


ties of two or more years), such as had become the commonpractice in certain European countries (Germany, Italy, Eng-land, etc.), under the extension of government guaranteesestablished in those countries, were virtually non-existent here .Only a few of the largest companies were able or willing toextend such credits without assistance from the banks . As aresult, American manufacturers were unable to compete onan equal basis for Soviet business with European firms .

The other principal factor in the trade decline were thecampaigns launched against the admission of Soviet goods intothis country . Beginning with 1930, charges were frequentlymade to the effect that Soviet goods were the product of con-vict or forced labor or that they were being sold on the Ameri-can market at dumping prices . Although whenever suchcharges were subjected to investigation they were eventuallydismissed as unfounded, they resulted in delays, litigation,temporary embargoes, and an atmosphere of uncertainty andrisk which made it impossible to develop trade in a normalmanner.

In the case of lumber and pulpwood, for instance, somecargoes were held up before being finally admitted . Hearingson "unfair practice" charges with regard to Soviet asbestosresulted in a temporary embargo, lasting from April, 1931 toApril, 1933, before the charges were eventually dismissed bythe Tariff Commission . Similar difficulties were encounteredwith respect to manganese ore and anthracite coal importedfrom the U .S .S.R . Charges of dumping of manganese weredisposed of in February, 1931 by the Treasury Department,which announced that "the issuance of a finding of dumpingcovering manganese imported from the U .S .S .R. is not jus-tified." An anti-dumping finding on Soviet safety matchesissued in May, 1930, was vacated by the Secretary of theTreasury in January, 1934, on the ground that it was "not


supported by evidence at all sufficient to warrant it." At thesame time, a finding of the Treasury Department as of Feb-ruary, 1931, stating that convict labor was used in the pro-duction of lumber and pulpwood in the northern regions ofthe U.S.S.R., was also vacated on similar grounds .

A ruling of the Department of Agriculture in November,1930, required that casings imported from the Soviet Unionundergo a special process of disinfection in this country since,in the absence of consular authorities, the certificates of sani-tation issued by the Soviet authorities were not consideredacceptable . A similar ruling required that feed materials ofSoviet origin be quarantined for 9o days at the port of entrybefore being admitted . These restrictions, which put theU.S.S.R. at a considerable disadvantage in competing withother exporting countries, are still in effect .

The importation of apatite (phosphate fertilizer) from theSoviet Union was stopped for a period of about two years untila charge of alleged unfair competition was dismissed by theCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals (in February, 1 935) .

The Soviet authorities took the position that these and otherrestrictions, which greatly hampered the sale of their productson the American market, were all the more unwarranted inview of the fact that in the past eleven years imports from theU.S.S.R. amounted to less than a quarter of the purchases ofAmerican goods for the Soviet Union . They pointed out thatthese products are largely non-competitive with domestic indus-try, consisting mainly of items which the United States importsin large quantities from abroad . The recent tendency of mostcountries to balance as closely as possible their trade with othercountries, the many restrictions on the transfer of foreign ex-change, the systems of quotas set up in some countries-allmade the problem of restrictions more acute, as it became


increasingly unfeasible to redress an unfavorable balance by

means of favorable balances in other countries .

The obstacles put in the way of the importation of Sovietproducts to the United States and the absence of satisfactory

facilities for financing exports to the Soviet Union were accom-panied by many other restrictions and difficulties brought aboutby the status of non-recognition . The Soviet Government had

little or no protection in American courts . Gold of Soviet

origin could not be shipped to this country for deposit, accord-

ing to Treasury Department rulings of November and Decem-ber, 1920, which were eventually rescinded in January, 1 934,after the resumption of diplomatic relations . Discriminatory

taxes were imposed by both countries on the vessels of the other

country . Such excess charges were also suspended early in

1934. The flotation on the American market of bonds issued

by the Soviet Government was prohibited and long-term privateloans or credits were not encouraged . Visitors on business

missions from the Soviet Union frequently encountered diffi-

culty in obtaining visas .

The lack of authoritative information, because of the absenceof consular representatives, made it possible for interested par-ties to spread unfounded rumors and reports regarding alleged

conditions in the Soviet Union, which had a detrimental effect

on trade . Attacks were made on the Amtorg and other orga-

nizations carrying on trade for the Soviet Union, culminatingin the hearings of the Congressional investigating committee

in 1931, which declared unfounded the charges that these

companies were carrying on political activity .The cumulative effect of these difficulties, coupled with the

more favorable credits and other conditions of trade prevailingin Europe, finally led to the diversion of considerable businessformerly placed in this country to European countries . The

share of the United States in total Soviet imports dropped from


25 per cent in 1930 to 5 per cent in 1932 and 1933 . Whilethe total imports of the Soviet Union declined by 67 per centfrom 1930 to 1933, those from the United States showed adrop of 93 per cent . To some extent the decline in purchaseshere was also due to the fact that the Soviet Union had reacheda stage in its economic development where it was able to pro-duce a part of the equipment and raw materials formerlypurchased abroad.

The development of imports of Soviet products into theUnited States has been rather irregular . From slightly morethan $8,ooo,ooo in 1924 they fluctuated between $12,-

ooo,ooo and $14,000,000 during the following four yearsand averaged $23,500,000 in 1929-193o . From 1931 to1934 they averaged slightly under $12,000,000 a year. Thisuneven development has been due in part to the many restric-tions and obstacles mentioned above . The fact that in theface of these difficulties the imports nearly trebled between1924 and 1930 indicates that under normal conditions thepossibilities in this direction are considerable .

With the establishment of diplomatic relations between thetwo countries in November, 1933, the way was paved for thesolution of the problems which had brought about the sharpdecline of trade . A number of the restrictions imposed byformer administrations on the importation of Soviet productswere removed . On February 8, 1934 the Export-ImportBank was organized by the government, primarily for thepurpose of expanding trade between the United States and theU.S.S .R . The primary function of the bank was to extendcredits to American manufacturers exporting their productsto the U.S .S .R . Subsequently, however, a resolution of theExport-Import Bank passed in connection with the JohnsonAct and an interpretation of this law by the Attorney General,made the extension of credits dependent on the adjustment of

36o


the debt question . Negotiations on this matter had not ledto an agreement by the middle of 1935 . Principally as aresult of the absence of credit facilities, the trade remained ona low level, although in 1934 exports to the U .S .S.R ., amount-ing to $14,997,000, recorded an increase of 67 per cent.

U . S.-U.S.S.R. Trade Agreement

An agreement to facilitate and increase trade between theUnited States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics wasconcluded at Moscow July 13, 1935, in an exchange of identi-cal notes between Ambassador William C . Bullitt and theCommissar for Foreign Affairs, Maxim Litvinoff .

The identical notes read as follows :I have the honor to refer to recent conversations in regard to commerce

between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States ofAmerica and to the trade agreements program of the United States and toconfirm and to make of record by this note the following agreement whichhas been reached between the governments of our respective countries :

r . The duties proclaimed by the President of the United States ofAmerica pursuant to trade agreements entered into with foreign gov-ernments or instrumentalities thereof under the authority of the actentitled "An Act to Amend the Tariff Act of 1930," approved June1z, 1934, shall be applied to articles the growth, produce or manufactureof the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, as long as this agreementremains in force. It is understood that nothing in this agreement shallbe construed to require the application to articles the growth, produce ormanufacture of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of duties orexemptions from duties proclaimed pursuant to any trade agreement betweenthe United States of America and the Republic of Cuba which has been ormay hereafter be concluded .

z . On its part, the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Re-publics will take steps to increase substantially the amount of purchase inthe United States for export to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republicsof articles the growth, produce or manufacture of the United States ofAmerica.

3 . This agreement shall come into force on the date of signaturethereof. It shall continue in effect for twelve months . Both partiesagree that not less than thirty days prior to the expiration of the afore-said period of twelve months they shall start negotiations regarding theextension of the period during which the present agreement shall continuein force .


An elucidation by Mr. Litvinoff stated that it was the inten-tion of the Soviet Union to place orders in the United Statesto the value of $30,000,000 during the twelve months fol-lowing the signing of the agreement . This represents anincrease of i oo per cent over American exports to the U.S.S.R .in 1 934 .

Statements issued by both American and Soviet authoritiesin connection with the accord pointed out that the signing ofthis agreement provides a sound basis for a mutually beneficialexpansion of trade between the two countries .

EXPORTS TO THE U.S.S.R .

Industrial and Electrical EquipmentIn 1930 the U .S .S.R. was the second and in 1931 the

leading foreign market for industrial machinery and equip-ment of American manufacture. It rose from 14th place in1925, tenth in 1926 and fifth in 1928 . Its share in totalUnited States exports increased from 5 per cent in 1929 to27 .5 per cent in 1931 . Even with the drastic decline in 1932it still accounted for 1o per cent of total shipments. In 1930-1931 exports of industrial equipment to the Soviet Unionaveraged more than $40,000,000 a year and made up 22per cent of the total. In the following three years the exportswere reduced to an annual average of $3,724,000 .

The principal class of machinery in this group has beenmetal-working machinery, largely for tractor, automobile andball-bearing plants in the U .S.S.R. In 1930-1931 the U .S .S.R .took equipment of this type to the value of $35,731,000, morethan 52 per cent of the total American shipments . The per-centage of total exports shipped to the Soviet Union in 1930and 1931, respectively, of some of the principal types of equip-ment was as follows : foundry and molding equipment-58 and

362 ' HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

74 ; forging machinery-52 and 68 ; lathes-51 and 65 ; mill-ing machines-42 and 70 ; drilling machines-52 and 78 ;grinding machines-3o and 58 ; sheet and plate metal-workingmachines-31 and 54 . In 1932-1934 the exports were re-duced to about one-seventh of the average for the precedingtwo years.

Among the other types of American industrial equipmentfor which the U .S.S.R. has been one of the leading marketsare oil drilling equipment, of which it took 27 .5 per cent in193o and 22 per cent in 1931, and oil refining equipment-4o and 16 per cent ; purchases of these two groups totaled$8,401,000 in 1930 . Mining and quarrying equipment ex-ported to the U .S .S.R. exceeded $2,000,000 a year in 1930and 1931, making up 15 and 26 per cent of total shipments .The U.S.S.R. took 62 per cent of exports of stationary enginesin 1930-1931, 92 per cent of the water wheels and turbines,16 per cent of the excavators and road-making machinery, 36per cent of the cranes and hoists and conveying equipment,and 11 per cent of the pumps exported .

In the four years from 1928 to 1931 exports of construc-tion and conveying machinery averaged $2,808,000 annually .Other varieties of industrial and miscellaneous equipment ex-ported in considerable quantities to the Soviet Union includetextile and sewing machinery ($6o6,ooo average annually in1928-1930) ; paper and pulp machinery ($449,000 averagein 1929-1930) ; woodworking machinery ($267,000 averagein 1928-1930) ; refrigerating equipment ($247,000 averagein 1928-1930) ; ball and roller bearings ($869,000 averagein 1929-1931) ; air compressors ($496,000 average in 1928-1932) ; office machines and typewriters ($385,000 average in1928-1931) ; typesetting machines ($72,000 in 1933) ; andscientific instruments and apparatus ($458,000 average in1928-1934) . Large purchases of food and canning machin-


ery, marine equipment, and watch and clock factory equipmentalso were made.

The U.S.S.R. has also been a substantial purchaser of elec-trical apparatus, particularly power plant equipment. Suchpurchases averaged almost $6,ooo,ooo a year in 1 930-1 93 1 ,

making up 5 .8 per cent of the total U . S. exports .The following tables show the exports of industrial and

electrical equipment to the U .S .S.R. in 1929-1934 and theproportion of total exports :

Transportation EquipmentLarge exports of transportation equipment, such as automo-

biles, locomotives, and aviation engines and accessories, havebeen made to the U .S .S.R. in recent years. During the threeyears 1929-1931 shipments of automobiles, parts and acces-

INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT

YearTotal

ExportsU . S. Exports

to U.S .S.R .Share o f U .S .S .R .in total exports

(in per cent)(in thousand dollars)

1929 277,765 14,785 5.31930 228,291 41,890 18 .3

1931 141,835 38,995 27.51932 58,679 5,925 10 .1

1933 55,283 1,392 2 .5

1934 98,348 3,878 3 . 9

1929

POWER-DRIVEN METAL WORKING MACHINERY

6 .340,804 2,5941930 33,145 13,239 40 .0

1931 34,789 22,492 64 .7

1932 13,867 3,468 25 .0

1933 9,369 952 10 .2

1934 19,435 2,799 14 .4

1929ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT

2 .2121,357 2,606

1930 ,,8,z6o 5,o62 4.3

1931 85,o80 6,693 7 .8

1932 43,382 2,100 4 .8

1933 43,580 ,86 0.4

1934 66,525 365 0 .5

364


sories averaged $6,9 i 9,000 annually . In i 93 i, the SovietUnion was third among the markets for automobiles, takingeight per cent of the total. In the same year it imported ahalf of the locomotives and freight cars sold by this country .For a number of years it has been one of the leading marketsfor aviation engines, parts, and accessories, purchasing 22 percent of this group of products in 1931 and 35 per cent in

1934. In the latter year shipments amounted to $3,276,000 .

Agricultural Machinery

In the three years 1929-1931 exports of farm equipmentto the Soviet Union totaled $101,000,000, and made up 32per cent of the entire shipments of this country . Tractorsaccounted for $77,536,000, 49 per cent of all American ex-ports . Combines accounted for $8,222,000, 27 per cent oftotal shipments . Other agricultural implement shipments ofimportance include plows ($655,000 average annual exportsfrom 1928 to 1931) ; harrows ($147,000 average in 1928-1930) ; and grain harvesters and binders ($355,000 averagein 1928-1 93 0)-

In 1932-1934 exports of agricultural equipment practicallyceased. Nevertheless, for the five years 1929-1933, the shareof such exports going to the U.S.S.R. was 30 per cent and oftractors alone 46 per cent .

AUTOMOBILES AND PARTS

YearTotal

ExportsU . S . Exports

to U.S .S .R .Share of U.S.S.R .in total exports

1929(in thousand dollars) (in per cent)

o.6539,298 3,2801 930 277,425 5,88o 2.11931 146,693 1 1 ,597 7 .91932 76,274 2,702 3.51 933 90,631 1,117 1 .2

1934 190,208 958 0.4


In the six-year period from 1929 to 1934 the exports ofindustrial, electrical, and agricultural equipment and automo-biles and parts to the Soviet Union amounted to $250,000,000,more than eight per cent of total United States shipments .During 1930-1931, however, the U .S .S.R. took 16 per centof the total imports of these four groups, 76 per cent of thepurchases for the six years having been made in this period .

Raw and Semi-Manufactured Materials

Cotton : Up to 1930 the U.S.S.R. was one of the principalmarkets for American cotton ; in the five years 1925-1929shipments averaged $37,600,000 a year. In 1930 they droppedto $7,300,000, in 1931-1932 ceased entirely, and in 1 933totaled $3,500,000 . The latter shipments were financed inpart through credits extended by the Reconstruction FinanceCorporation, the first transaction of its kind recorded in thetrade between the two countries . The decline in exports wasdue primarily to increased domestic production in the U .S .S.R .In 1933 and 1934 negotiations were carried on for large pur-chases of American cotton for the Soviet Union on a long-termcredit basis but did not materialize . Purchases in the latteryear were a little under $2,000,000 . In the spring of 1 935cotton purchases were made here for the U .S.S.R . to thevalue of about $8,500,000-

Non-Ferrous Metals : Exports of non-ferrous metals aver-aged $3,400,000 annually from 1927 to 1930 and amounted

AGRICULTURAL EQUIPMENT

YearTotal

ExportsU. S. Exports

to U.S .S .R .Share of U .S .S .R.in total exports(in per cent)(in thousand dollars)

1929 140,800 20,715 14.71930 116,036 42,131 36.31931 57,402 37,885 66 .o1932 10,548 120 1 .11933 12,215 1o9 0.9

MMAJOR EXPORT

S 'O

F U. S. TO SOVIET UNION

51

N0

N0'

NN

to0

0to

O'

doll

ars)

(in

thou

sand

s of

'OW

Oas

41-

Comm

odit

y1924

1926

1932

1933

1934

W '1'

0 OA

1928

1929

1930

1931

Cott

on36,738

32,7

8344,537

30,506

7,34

1

•3,534

1,832

0 0a~

toO 0

xAb

rasi

ves

6532

141

......

5920

477

156

178

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Elec

trod

es16

3439

7037

59..

..••

346

729

NC

c,.

0z

Iron

and

ste

el and manufactures

271

787

1,073

2,73

52,

965

990

183

210

1,132

CDA1

d

Ferr

o-tu

ngst

en

other ferro-alloys (total)

and

1430

4645

850

438

422

CaN

hh

z822

00

CN

0Fe

rro-

tung

sten,

tungsten, metal and wire

Othe

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rro-alloys, ores and metals

.. 14

.....

......

244 2

404 5 4

42 825

118

720

2as

O'b

O _ N

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Alum

inum

and

manufactures

571

1624

316

37

0 _N

Mach

iner

y an

d vehicles (total)

Elec

tric

al m

achinery and apparatus

2,570 6o

12,6

99 615

19,6

851,399

42,5

372,

6o6

97,089

5,o6

z97

,891

6,69

311,352

2,10

03,

414

186

9,09

536

5rt 0

h1C 0

Nm

G n .b KS

O X27

Elec

tric

gen

erators and parts

Powe

r an

d other transformers

31 6

128

172

71 6154

670

929

753

353

635

31 •

4 13O

to0

CI 't

x-,

p0

Elec

tric

rai

lway locomotives

......

....

..25

1714

787

......

....

..CDCD

0In

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moto

rs and parts and controlling

A1CCD

Oeq

uipm

ent for ind'1 motors

6135

543

899

386

411

552

38NW

Indu

stri

al m

achinery (total)

1,o65

4,91

39,

034

14,7

8541,890

38,9

955,

903

1,39

23,881

WH

N 0

Arb

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Stea

m tu

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es and parts

411

983

645

1,53

540

415

6OQ

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Inte

rnal

com

bustion engines and parts

Wate

r411

1,35

238

982

71,

759

6o5

1,75

41,

406

99 370

211

21ly

~~CD

Ca rDCD

W C

whee

ls, water turbines and parts

Cons

truc

tion and conveying machinery

.....

. 7..

....

150

.....

.1,902

......

1,869

3,79

23,

668

154

9

78

WO AI

rD0

z

Mini

ng a

nd

machinery

quarrying

674

51,

287

1,z6

62,

334

2,30

620

254

150

r rDn 0

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Petroleum, gas and other well and re-

10 0a

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fini

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achinery

194

316

1,11

42,

571

8,40

11,

867

489

3143

40

EDC-

Meta

l-wo

rking machinery (total)

228

433

2,10

92,

594

13,2

3922,492

3,46

895

22,

799

0>v 0

CDLa

thes

4211

928

736

52,

460

2,64

447

645

546

rt 'W -

W0

Shee

t an

d plate metal-working machinery

......

.....

.35

its

1,43

02,

995

1413

2O

0 O Opp

(D n

alJ

Comm

odit

y

Mill

ing

machines

Gear

-cut

ting machines

Dril

ling

machines

Meta

l-gr

inding machines

Forg

ing

machinery

Roll

ing

mill machinery

Foun

dry

and molding equipment

Othe

r po

wer-driven metal-working ma-

chin

ery

Othe

r me

tal-working machinery

Stat

iona

ry a

ir compressors

Offi

ce a

ppli

ance

sAg

ricu

ltur

al m

achinery and equipment

Trac

tors

and

parts

comb

ines

Othe

r ag

ricu

ltural equipment

Auto

mobi

les

and other vehicles

Auto

mobi

les,

parts and accessories

Airc

raft

eng

ines, parts and accessories, ex-

cept

tir

esFr

eigh

t ca

rsSc

ient

ific

, la

boratory and professional instru-

ment

s an

d ap

paratus

Refi

ned

copp

er

MAJOR

EXPORTS

OF U.

S. TO SOVIET UNION

(Con

tinu

ed)

cU

U Nw

N

CD

V

1924

1928

0929

1930

1931

1932

1933

1934

1926

w0

tsM O

---

(in thousands of dollars)

va

6914

041

636

255

WU-'

aN

H

019

481

0,682

2,83

341

ACDW

tr3

IO44

4738

41,

189

6422

430

5P

ti

O9

1312

522

71,055

2,01

432

334

199

O`n

6743

225

306

1,403

2,77

545

2,6

o75

7O

P N<

.iP-

n a4

4441

295

92,691

336

340

v'z

209o

149

182

21

Ov

~64

C/1

512

202

2,06

60,

692

7419

746

O(2

Y. W

00

~.0

QO

vsC

Wy

0

6018

924

01,

399

1,43

467

132

124

6W

017

s.42

176

6741

11,

763

270

6985

0H U

Oe-

s

H45

III

388

572

810

189

469

122

rQt.

>v

152

237

526

68z

292

193

5540

69-_-

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6,59

97,

387

20,7

1542,131

37,8

8502

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'0}n

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5,125

6,o8

z17,869

35,920

29,3

4094

102

3W

',74,

..t_

167

56

705

1,92

95,

588

LLO

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tM]

O

N0

1,565

1,46

91,

299

2,14

14,

282

2,95

726

710

00H

00

017

454

186

572

183

1,865

924

4,43

13,

280

7,46

65,

879

14,3

18

11,597

3,17

32,

698

1,61

41,

117

4,76

01,208

y'

n 0W

r0 a, n v

( r„11

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524

554

250

740

738

03,

276

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2.71

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6z55

246

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,y,

..f,n

N z

4979

358

434

988

692

200

153

377

nW

Cn

3z0,38

22,

740

3,31

61,641

821

(2rD

W W On

.t

w

0 V

368


Miscellaneous : Other products shipped in substantial amountsinclude gum rosin, shipments of which averaged $65o,ooo ayear from 1925 to 1929 but which has not been exported sincethat time ; binder twine ($'730,000 in 1928 and $274,000 in1931) ; chemicals and related products (average of $235,000from 1925 to 1929) ; and crude rubber, of which largeamounts were formerly purchased (over $2,000,000 in 1928)but which does not appear in the customs statistics since theshipments were made from the Orient .

Purchases by StatesPurchases for the Soviet Union in the United States have

embraced virtually all parts of the country . However, since inrecent years machinery and equipment have made up the bulkof the exports, the machinery producing states of the MiddleWest have contributed the largest share of the total . In 1930and 1931, two of the years in which purchases of the Amtorgwere at their peak, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa and Wis-consin supplied products to the value of $100,763,000, 6oper cent of the total purchases in those years .

The following table shows the distribution of Amtorg pur-chases by states in 193o and 1931 (not including purchases ofcotton for the U.S .S.R .)

AMTORG PURCHASES BY STATES

State 1930 1931(in thousand dollars)

California z,o66 651Colorado 237 54Connecticut 1,383 1,495Delaware 16o 10Illinois 35,844 2i965Indiana 792 678Iowa 12,999 326Kansas 1,669 4Kentucky 427 59Maryland zo6 158Massachusetts 1,488 1,923


IMPORTS FROM THE U .S .S .R .

FoodstuffsFish : (fresh, frozen, or salted) ; Imports of fish, princi-

pally sturgeon, totaled $618,ooo in 1931 and $338,000 in

1934 . In 1930-1933 they made up four per cent of totalAmerican imports .

Caviar : Imports of caviar totaled $674,000 in 1929,$451,000 in 1932 and $253,000 in 1934- In value theymake up more than 9o per cent of total American imports .

Crabmeat : The U.S.S.R . accounted for 27 per cent oftotal United States canned crabmeat imports in 1933 as com-pared with 23 per cent in 1931 and only 0 .3 per cent in 1929 .Imports totaled $923,000 in 1931, declining to $481,ooo in

1 934 .Imports of other canned fish (sardines, sturgeon, sprats,

etc) amounted to $44,000 in 1932 and $14,000 in 1 933 . '

State 1930 1911(in thousand dollars)

Michigan 8,313 12,487Minnesota 155 65Missouri Z76 174New Jersey 3,526 1,757New York 9,181 9,917Ohio 7. 1 5S 7,905Oregon 178 88Pennsylvania 5,845 4,496Rhode Island 170 172Texas 320 114Utah 98 41Vermont 614 65oVirginia 1,286 328Washington 812 9West Virginia zo8 4Wisconsin 11,047 1,722Non-classified 7,580 2,980

Total U. S. 114,035 5 1 ,232Canada 217 270

370


Sausage Casings : Imports of casings from the U .S.S.R .

dropped from $2,823,000 in 1929 to $498,000 in 1934 . In

the earlier year they made up 18 per cent and in 1934, sixper cent of total American imports .

Lentils : Imports of lentils totaled $76,000 in 1932 but

dropped to one-tenth that total in 1933 . In 1931-1932 they

accounted for 24 per cent of total American imports .

Sunflower Seed Oil : Imports of this item were started only

a few years ago . They amounted to $360,000 in 1932 and

$444,000 in 1933, making up 59 per cent of total receipts in

the latter year . In 1934, largely as a result of the imposition

of a new excise tax on edible oils, imports were virtually

eliminated .

Mushrooms : Imports of mushrooms totaled $16i,ooo in1929 and $246,000 in 1931, 46 per cent of total imports of

the United States . None was imported in 1 932-1934-Other items in this group are confectionery ($45,000 in

1929 and $40,000 in 1 934), jams, nuts, coriander seed,canned vegetables, mustard seed, mineral water, and wines

and vodka, the importation of which was started in 1934

(imports in 1934 totaled $49,000) .

Animal ProductsFurs : Imports of furs, which exceeded $5,000,000 in 1929,

averaged $2,323,000 in 1933-1934 . Aside from direct ship-ments, large quantities of Soviet furs are re-exported to theUnited States from other countries, principally Germany andEngland . Direct imports of Soviet undressed furs made upfour per cent of total receipts in 1933 ; of dressed furs-29per cent . Of the furs received from the U .S .S.R . in 1933,dressed furs and manufactures made up $85o,00o but in 1 934this figure was greatly reduced .

Bristles : Sales of Soviet bristles fell from $618,ooo in 1929

AMERICAN-SOVIET TRADE RELATIONS 37 1

to $184,000 in 1932, in each case making up between sevenand eight per cent of total American imports . Direct importswere practically eliminated in 1933-1934 . A part of theSoviet bristles shipped to England is re-exported to the UnitedStates .

Leather and Hides and Skins : Imports of these products,which were begun only in 1930, have shown rapid develop-ment . From $53,000 in 1930 they rose to $318,000 in1933, of which leather made up $224,000. The U.S.S.R .accounted for two per cent of the total leather imports of thiscountry in 1 933-1 934 .

Animal Hair : Sales of horsehair and other animal hair rosefrom $72,000 in 1929 to $273,000 in 1931, dropping to$50,000 in 1934 . In 1931-1934 the Soviet Union supplied13 per cent of total American imports of this item .

Other products in this group include stearic acid ($53,000in 1931 and $19,000 in 1933), of which the U.S .S .R. fur-nished 12 per cent in 1931-1932 ; bones ($418,ooo averagein 1929-1930) ; and glue ($27,000 in 1 933) .

Mineral Products

Manganese Ore: For about half a century the Chiaturymines in Transcaucasia have supplied a considerable part of themanganese ore consumed by the American steel industry, whichordinarily imports about 9o per cent of its requirements . Im-ports of manganese from the U .S.S.R. have been drasticallyreduced in the past few years-from $5,452,000 in 1929 to$1,897,000 in 1931 and $903,000 in 1934---owing mainlyto the greatly curtailed operations of the steel industry . TheSoviet Union furnished 64 per cent in value of total Americanimports in 1929 and 37 per cent in 1 93 2-1 934 .

Iron Ore : Imports of iron ore from the Soviet Union werestarted only in 1930. They amounted to $571,000 in 1931,

372


dropping to $177,000 in 1934 . The U.S.S.R . accounted for16 per cent of total imports in 1931-1933 . The ore is con-sumed on the eastern seaboard .Chrome Ore : This is another new item among imports

from the U.S.S .R ., dating also from 1930 . Receipts totaled$292,000 in 1931 and $256,000 in 1934, the Soviet Unionsupplying ii per cent of the total imports in 1933 and 1 934 .

Precious Metals : Imports of platinum and allied metalstotaled $994,000 in 1929 and $453,000 in 1934 . They madeup 12 per cent of the total direct imports in the earlier yearand 11 per cent in 1 934 .

Gold Ore: In 1934 shipments were started to the UnitedStates of low-content gold-bearing ore . During the latterpart of the year several shipments were made, mainly to theport of Tacoma, Washington . In addition, early in 1 935,importation was started of considerable quantities of variousgold concentrates (precipitates, chlorides, electrolytic slimes) .The first sales ($300,000) of Soviet silver were also made bythe Amtorg, for delivery in London .

r?nthracite Coal : In the past six years (1929-1934), theU.S.S.R. has supplied, exclusively to the New England States,about 44 per cent of the high-grade anthracite imported by theUnited States. Receipts of Soviet anthracite, which commandsa high price because of its high heating value and low ashcontent, rose from $737,000 in 1929 to an average of$1,757,000 in 1932-1934 . The shipments, averaging 229,000tons a year in 1931-1934 make up less than 1/2 of one per centof total American anthracite production and about four percent of total New England consumption .

flsbestos : Direct imports of asbestos from the U .S.S . .R werestarted only a few years ago, amounting to $661,ooo in 1930,$104,000 in 1931 and $89,000 in 1934 . They made upabout nine and three per cent of total imports in 1930 and


1934, respectively . The development of imports was ham-pered by a temporary embargo, lasting from April 1931 toApril 1933, imposed while charges of unfair practice, eventuallydismissed as unfounded, were pending before the Tariff Com-mission .

Magnesite : Shipments of magnesite, a new item on theimport list, totaled $90,000 in 1931, 27 per cent of totalAmerican imports ; in 1933 and 1934 they fell to an averageof $31,000 .

Among the products of potential importance in this groupare potash, of which the first shipments, totaling $323,000,were received from the U.S.S.R. in 1934 ; apatite (phosphatefertilizer), imports of which were temporarily halted while acase was pending before the Tariff Commission but were re-sumed again in 1935 ; mica, diatomaceous earth, paraffin,kaolin, pyrites, marble, glaziers' and engravers' diamonds($48,000 in 1932), etc .

Crude Drugs and ChemicalsLicorice Root is the largest item in this category, imports

totaling $889,000 in 1929, $443,000 in 1931, and $214,000in 1934 . In 1929 the U.S .S.R. supplied 38 per cent and in

1 933-1 934, 27 per cent of the total .Gum Tragacanth : Imports of this item totaled $87,000 in

1932 (26.5 per cent of American imports) and $48,000 in1 933 .

The other main products in this group include ergot, importsof which in 1933 totaled $33,000 ; miscellaneous drugs($34,000 in 1933 and $26,000 in 1 934) ; poppy seed($19,000 in 1933) ; inedible sunflower seed oil ($41,000 in

1 933) ; essential or distilled oils ($67,000) ; peat moss ($17 ;ooo) ; alkaloids, chiefly nicotine, ($io,ooo) ; santonin ($62,-ooo) ; crude glycerine ($34,000) ; barytes ($84,000 in 1931,27 per cent of total American imports) .

374


TextilesFlax (unmanufactured) : Imports of flax increased from

$179,000 in 1929 (five per cent of total imports) to anaverage of $501,000 in 1 933-1934 (33 per cent) .

Linens : Imports of linen cloth and manufactures (towels,table cloths, embroidered articles, etc .) amounted to $114,000in 1932 and $572,000 in 1934 . In the latter year they madeup about 2 .5 per cent of total United States imports of theseproducts.Raw Silk : This item has appeared on the import list only

in the past few years. Imports totaled $453,000 in 1931 and$178,000 in 1934 . In 1931-1934 these shipments made uponly 0 .2-0 .3 per cent of total imports .

Oriental Rugs : The importation of hand-made orientalrugs (mainly Caucasian and Turkestan) was resumed a fewyears ago . Receipts amounted to $219,000 in 1932 and$109,ooo in 1934 . They made up four per cent of totalAmerican imports in 1 932-1 934-Wood and Paper ProductsLumber: Imports of soft woods from the Soviet Union

(almost entirely spruce) were started in 1927 . In 1929 im-ports totaled $819,000, in 1932-$296,000 and 1 933-$559,000. Spruce imports totaled $316,ooo in 1934 . Thedevelopment of imports of lumber and pulpwood was hinderedby adverse regulations of the Treasury Department, later res-cinded . In 1931-1932 the U .S .S.R. supplied only two percent of total United States lumber imports .

Pulpwood: Importation of spruce pulpwood from U .S.S.R .was started in 1929 . Shipments totaled $1,580,000 in 1930,$481,ooo in 1932 and only $71,000 in 1934 . The SovietUnion, which has been virtually the only source of supply asidefrom Canada, accounted for seven per cent of pulpwoodimports into this country in 1 930-1 933-


Rags (for paper stock) : Imports of rags totaled $865,000in 1930 and $394,000 in 1934 . They made up 23 per centof total imports in 1 933-1 934 .

Safety Matches : Imports of safety matches from the . SovietUnion, one of the few countries offering competition to theSwedish match trust, were started in 1928 . In 1929 importstotaled $353,000, slightly more than 1o per cent of totalreceipts by the United States . An anti-dumping duty imposedby the Treasury Department in May, 1930, virtually put anend to imports . This ruling was rescinded in January, 1 934,and imports that year totaled $94,000, 18 per cent of the total .

Other lumber items include oak staves and headings, theimportation of which has been considerable since the lifting ofthe prohibition against the sale of beer ($223,000 in 1933 and$11o,ooo in 1934) ; veneers and plywoods ($43,000 in 1931and $6,ooo in 1933) ; and miscellaneous woods and manu-factures ($26,000 in 1933 and $31,000 in 1 934) .

Miscellaneous : Among the other products imported fromthe U.S .S.R. not included in the above categories are booksand other printed matter ($42,000 in 1933 and $46,000 in

1 934), works of art ($34,000), gold and silver articles andjewelry ($21,000), motion picture films, handicraft articles,etc .

Technical Assistance ContractsBeginning with 1928, more than two-score contracts were

concluded with American engineering concerns providing forthe cooperation of the latter in the design, construction andoperation of mines, electrical plants and installations, and indus-trial enterprises in the U .S .S.R. About a third of the totalnumber of contracts for technical assistance entered into bySoviet organizations were made with American firms. Inaddition, hundreds of individual engineers and technicians wereengaged for various Soviet industries . Most of the contracts

376


U . S . IMPORTS OF MAJOR PRODUCTS FROM RUSSIA AND THE SOVIET UNIONCommodity

1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934(in thousands of dollars)

Furs (undressedand dressed) 4.459 2,450 3,199 5,238 4,252 x,096 1,690 2,272 2,315

Anthracite coal 737 1,232 1,6x1 1,498 1,332 2,442

Manganese ore 5,046 5,000 3 .067 5 .452 2,446 1,897 522 499 903Chrome ore 238

292

52

153

256

Iron ore 136

571

357

298

177Asbestos III

66,

14057

89

Sausage casings 837 x,696 2,307 2,823 3,574 600 706 956 498

Pulpwood lox 1,580

744

481

236

7,Lumber and wood

manufactures

31

357

535

872 1,605

344

324

814

482Rags (for paper

stock)

88

46

132

413

865

80

86

217

394

Flax

665

364

2x6

179

438

43

551

451Caviar

50

349

795

674

655

327

451

213

258

Fish ( fresh, frozenor salted)

173

335

382

454

655

6,8

389

239

282

Crabmeat• • • • . •

• . . .••

15

854

524

6o1

759

481

Licorice root

978

604

344

889

427

443

266

256

214

Bristles

692

918

988

6,8 1,129

468

184

23

7

Matches•

141

353

233 94Mushrooms

122

93

284

16,

313

246Candy and confec'y3

21

45

x65

171

13

18

40Wool carpets and rugs107

153

31

204

219

163

logLeather, hides and

skins

331

7

2

53

44

143

318

139Animal hair

8o

86

40

7z

101

273

102

149

50Raw silk 7 8 13 453 354 214 178Sunflower seed oil 360

444

38Manufactures of flax

and hemp

1

6

66

43

131

333

114

381

572

were concluded in 1928-1930 and the majority of them havenow expired . In the past few years, corresponding to thedrastic decline in trade, relatively few American engineershave been engaged for work in the U .S .S.R .

Among the more important technical assistance contractswith American firms were the following : Hugh L. Cooper &Co. (Dnieper River hydroelectric station) ; International Gen-eral Electric Co. and Radio Corporation of America (electricalindustry) ; the Austin Co. and Ford Motor Co . (Nizhni Nov-gorod-now Gorky-automobile plant) ; Electric Auto-LiteCo. (electrical equipment for automobiles and tractors) ; Ogle-


bay, Norton & Co. (iron ore) ; Freyn Engineering Co . andArthur G. McKee & Co. (steel industry) ; Stuart, James &Cooke and Allen & Garcia (coal industry) ; Nitrogen Engi-neering Corp., Du Pont de Nemours & Co. and WestvacoChlorine Products Co ., Inc . (chemical industry) ; KoppersConstruction Co . (coke) ; Newport News Shipbuilding andDry Dock Co. (turbines) ; Goodman Mfg. Co. (manufactureof coal cutters) ; Albert Kahn, Inc. (industrial construction) ;Curtiss-Wright Corporation (aviation industry) ; SperryGyroscope Co. (marine instruments) ; Archer Wheeler andSouthwestern Engineering Co. (non-ferrous metals) .

ShimmingIn accordance with contracts concluded several years ago

with the Am-Derutra Transport Corporation, regular sailingswere started by vessels of the American Export Line to BlackSea ports and of the Scantic Line to Leningrad and Murmansk .In the peak year for exports (1930) the Am-Derutra chartered95 vessels to carry American goods to the Soviet Union, ofwhich 70 were American-owned . In the beginning of 1 934a freight service was started by Sovtorgflot (Soviet MercantileFleet) between the Black Sea ports and Leningrad and theeastern seaboard of the United States. The KIM, the firstvessel to enter an American port flying a Soviet flag, arrivedin New York harbor on April 2, 1934, having sailed fromOdessa on March 10 . In the subsequent months, arrivals ofSoviet steamers averaged almost two a month .

Soviet BondsFor a number of years a small number of bonds of the

Soviet Government were bought by Americans through directcorrespondence with the foreign department of the State Bankof the U.S .S.R. in Moscow . In the latter part of 1932 andthe beginning of 1933 a small issue of Soviet bonds was mar-

378


keted by the Soviet American Securities Corporation of NewYork City. In 1933 this company offered for sale in theUnited States an issue of seven per cent bonds in the amountof 10,000,000 gold rubles, the first important public offeringof Soviet securities in the United States. These bonds, incommon with all Soviet bonds sold abroad, are written interms of a definite quantity of gold ( .'774234 grams of puregold per ruble) . Both principal and interest are payable inAmerican currency in the dollar equivalent of this fixed quan-tity of gold. The Chase National Bank in New York City isthe paying agent . An unusual feature of the bonds is a guar-antee of the State Bank of the U .S.S.R. to repurchase them atany time upon request of the holder at par and accrued interest .The bulk of this issue has already been sold .

Torgsin Orders

Orders on stores operated by Torgsin (State Company forTrade with Foreigners) in the U .S .S.R. may be transmittedthrough banks or other companies permitted to accept currencyfor transfer abroad . Among some of the banks or agencieshandling these orders are : Manufacturers Trust Company,Amalgamated Bank, Am-Derutra Transport Corporation,American Express Company, Gdynia-America Line, R .C.A.Communications, Inc., etc.

The office of the general representative of Torgsin in theUnited States is located at 261 Fifth Avenue, New York .

Perspectives o f Soviet-American TradeMany leaders of industry, finance, and statecraft, both in

the United States and in the Soviet Union, have on recentoccasions expressed the opinion that the possibilities exist for alarge expansion of commerce between the two countries, givenfavorable conditions of trade . The interest of the Soviet Unionin the United States as a source of supply for imports, especially

AMERICAN-SOVIET' TRADE RELATIONS 379

equipment and raw and semi-manufactured materials, has beenindicated in a number of official pronouncements by prominentofficials. Maxim M . Litvinoff, Commissar for Foreign Affairs,in a speech in New York City on November 24, 1933, at abanquet given in his honor under the auspices of the American-Russian Chamber of Commerce, said :

"Enjoying the lowest foreign indebtedness in the world,the Soviet Union has the greatest capacity for absorbing theraw materials and products of other countries . On this ques-tion I presented data at the London Economic Conference, astudy of which will show that the United States could makeuse of this capacity to the extent of 60 or 70 per cent."

This referred to the following statement made on June

1 4, 1 933 :

"The Soviet government as a rule draws up its import plansin strict accordance with its export possibilities and credit facili-ties . But the Soviet delegation could conceive of conditions,such as lengthened credits, normal conditions for Soviet exportsand other favorable factors, which might induce its governmentto extend these plans to a degree which would have no smallinfluence in the alleviation of the crisis . According to the cal-culations of the Soviet delegation, the Soviet government, givensuch conditions, might agree to place orders abroad in the nearfuture to the sum of about one billion dollars . To be stillmore definite, the Soviet Union could in the near future absorbabout 20o million dollars' worth of ferrous metals, ioo mil-lion dollars' worth of raw materials for the textile, leather andrubber industries, 40o million dollars' worth of machinery,including railway equipment to the value of 50o million, 35million dollars' worth of agricultural goods, including breedstock, 5o million dollars' worth of consumers' goods, such astea, cocoa, coffee, herring, 50 million dollars' worth of newships, chiefly for industrial purposes such as fishing, seal hunt-ing, dredging, and so on .

"The significance of these figures will be more evident if itis realized that they amount to from 25 to 66 per cent of exist-ing world stocks in respect to such metals as aluminum, nickel,copper and lead, to too per cent in the case of some of the

380


consumers' goods mentioned, to one-third of the annual worldexport of machinery and ioo per cent of last year's total ship-building output .

"It should be clearly understood that the figures I havequoted would be in excess of any plan already drawn up bythe Soviet government and do not apply to goods urgentlyrequired by it, and to be ordered under present conditions ."

A. P. Rosengoltz, Commissar for Foreign Trade, in aspeech on April 2 3, 1933, stated :

"One could hardly find any other country which has suchgreat possibilities of developing its exports to the U .S .S .R. asthe United States ; and on its part, the United States couldbecome a large market for the sale of Soviet products. For this,of course, the necessary prerequisites must be created ."

Ambassador A. A. Troyanovsky, in a statement to the presson January, 1934, said :

"Like the United States, the U .S .S.R. is a country of greatdistances, of rich and multiform natural resources . Our physi-cal problems are in many respects similar to yours . We ap-proach our problems of developing our resources later than you,and we have availed ourselves and will continue to avail our-selves of American technical skill and of American machinery .We have found that generally speaking, of all foreign technicalmen, Americans are best equipped to give advice on our devel-opment projects and American type machinery is in most casesbest adapted to our needs . In this respect we have the basisfor a steady and profitable commercial development ."

In an address before the American-Russian Chamber ofCommerce in April, 1935, I . V . Boyeff, Chairman of theBoard of the Amtorg Trading Corporation, stated that Sovietimports from the United States would continue to increase in

1935 but that a large development of trade, commensuratewith the possibilities, could be realized only in the event of theestablishment of financial credits for exports to the U .S .S.R .

In a recent memorandum prepared for its members, theAmerican-Russian Chamber of Commerce pointed out that


there are also ample possibilities for increasing imports fromthe U.S .S.R . Of the principal commodities imported fromthe Soviet Union, the United States bought from all countriesover $1,200,000,000 worth in 1929 and $334,000,000 in1932. The U.S .S.R . supplied only 1 .7 per cent of this totalin 1929 and 2 .5 per cent in 1932. Virtually all of the itemsare non-competitive with American industry. In addition, thememorandum points out the potential importance of a numberof items not yet brought in from the U .S .S.R . (such as wood-pulp and oilseeds) and imported by the United States in largequantities, and of increasing gold shipments to this country .

Doing Business with the U.S .S.R .

The following statement, from the Economic Review of theSoviet Union (published by the Information Department ofthe Amtorg Trading Corporation) of March, 1934, givessome information regarding methods of promoting trade withthe U.S .S .R . :

"Experience has shown that as regards those products whichthe Soviet Union is primarily interested in purchasing at thepresent time, that is, capital goods, there is no reason why alllegitimate means should not be employed to call them to theattention of executives and technicians in the U .S .S .R. Tech-nical publications, catalogs, etc . are read avidly by the peopleengaged in designing and operating industries in the SovietUnion .

"Purchases abroad are and will continue to be carried on bycentralized organizations such as the Amtorg Trading Corpora-tion . All commercial matters (prices, credit terms, etc .) inconnection with business in this country are negotiated by theAmtorg. While its executives are the final authority in theplacing of orders, the initial impetus arises in the factory orthe importing organization in the U.S .S . .R ., and advertisingmaterial, technical literature, exhibits of machinery, etc ., un-doubtedly have an educational value in this connection . Forthe convenience of American firms who wish to advertise inperiodicals or newspapers published in the Soviet Union, a

382


central office (Inreklama) has been established here for thehandling of such advertising . The Amtorg also publishes inthe Russian language a monthly technical periodical, AmericanEngineering and Industry, as well as a biennial catalog ofAmerican products, which are widely distributed among Sovietexecutives and engineers. Of the last edition of the catalog,a volume of about r,ooo pages, 25,ooo copies were circulatedin the Soviet Union .

"Participation in machinery and equipment exhibits is an-other method by which American firms can familiarize indus-trial circles in the U .S .S.R. with their products. There areseveral permanent exhibits in Moscow which are visited bymany thousands of technicians and managers .

"When representatives are sent to the Soviet Union it isadvisable that they have sufficient technical knowledge to beable to discuss the particular equipment involved in detail .The best results are obtained by those representatives who canbe helpful in furnishing technical information . For this rea-son the advisability of sending one man to handle the productsof a number of different companies in diversified fields ishighly questionable .

"Recently a number of companies have been organizedwhich represent themselves to be in a specially advantageousposition to obtain Soviet business . Such organizations serve nouseful purpose, and far from helping are more likely to be ahindrance . The Amtorg is averse to doing business with anyfirms except those directly concerned with the manufacture ofthe product . This policy of working without unnecessaryintermediaries is of benefit to both sides."

XIII .

DOMESTIC TRADE'

DURING the first Five-Year Plan there was recorded a rapidgrowth in domestic trade turnover and an almost completesocialization of retail trade . While private enterprise had beeneliminated from wholesale trade by the outset of the first Five-Year Plan, it still accounted for one-fourth of the retail tradeturnover. By 1932 state and co-operative organizations han-dled virtually the entire trade turnover.

A brief outline of the history of domestic trade in theU.S.S .R. will be of aid in understanding the more recent de-velopments. Immediately after assuming power the SovietGovernment took measures to establish a more satisfactory sys-tem of goods exchange between city and country . Such meas-ures included state supervision over the distribution of goodsand the organization of state monopolies for certain of themost important products . However, as early as 1918 the exi-gencies of the civil war, intervention and blockade renderedthe normal development of trade impossible . The governmentset up a centralized distribution of products requisitioned by thestate, trading being prohibited . This system was in force forabout three years, from the middle of 1918 to March, 1921, aperiod known as that of "war communism ."

In the spring of 1921 the so-called "New Economic Pol-icy" (NEP) was adopted, whereby requisitions were replacedby a tax in kind and trade was stimulated between the smalla Under "domestic trade" is included trade only in those manufactured goods and food

products which are obtained by the population through the retail trade system or publiccatering network (restaurants and kitchen factories) for individual consumption . It doesnot Include distribution of means of production, raw materials, fuel, etc . among socializedenterprises.

383


agricultural producers and the town . In the first months thistrade was limited largely to local barter of goods, but soon itdeveloped on a larger scale with the use of money .

In the early years of the reconstruction period private mer-chants accounted for a large percentage of wholesale tradeand predominated in retail trade, but gradually the state andco-operative trading organizations gained ground until in1927-28 they accounted for all of wholesale trade and 75 percent of retail trade . The share of the rural districts in the totalretail trade turnover grew during the same period from 18 .3per cent in 1923-24 to 31 per cent in 1927-28, due primarilyto the wide extension of the network of co-operatives in thevillages.

The basis for the increases in domestic trade during the firstFive-Year Plan period was provided by the increased quantityof industrial and agricultural commodities available . The out-put of consumers' goods recorded a gain of 87 per cent duringthe period ; state grain collections almost doubled, going from12 million tons in 1928-29 to 23 million tons in 1931-32 ;meat collections increased by nearly 6o per cent ; suburbanfarms operated by the consumers' co-operatives and the devel-opment of collective farm trade provided additional supplies ofagricultural products for the market. In 1932 the retail tradeturnover of socialized trade, including the public catering serv-ice, reached a total of 40 .3 billion rubles, as compared with15.5 billion rubles in 1928 .

The total volume of sales of articles of individual consump-tion by state and co-operative stores in 1932 exceeded that in1928 by 98.7 per cent for the urban population and 65 .7 percent for the rural population .

The Five-Year Plan called for a 4o per cent reduction inthe relative importance of private trade by 1932-33 . But theprocess of replacing private by socialized trade developed at a


much more rapid pace than was anticipated . The numberof state and co-operative trading units increased greatly duringthe five-year period, reaching by January 1, 1933, a total of295,600. By January 1, 1935 the number totaled 313,000,

of which 185,000 were located in rural districts . The numberof persons employed in state and co-operative trade increasedfrom 549,000 in 1926-27 to 800,000 in 1928-29 and 1,-

300,000 at the beginning of 1 933 .Further rises in the volume of retail trade were reported in

1933 and 1934, the first two years of the second Five-YearPlan. Trade turnover in the former year amounted to 49 .1billion rubles (including the public catering services), while

in 1 934 the turnover rose to 6o billion rubles, an increase of23 per cent over the previous year and of 52 per cent over

1932. Of the total turnover in 1934, the consumers' coopera-

tives accounted for 20.5 billion rubles, the Commissariat forInternal Trade-14.7 billion, the factory supply departments

-8 .5 billion, the retail trading units of the industrial com-missariats-6 .5 billion, and public catering establishments-6 .6

billion rubles .The data in the following table records the rate of socializa-

tion of Soviet retail trade during the past twelve years :SHARE IN TOTAL NUMBER

OF RETAIL TRADING UNITS,ACCORDING TO SECTORSTOTALSOCIAL-

PRIVATE

IZED

PRIVATE

SHARE IN TOTAL RETAIL TRADETURNOVER

TOTALCO-OPERA- SOCIAL-

STATE

TIVE

IZED

An important development in the system of internal tradehas been the increasing growth of state as compared with co-operative trade . In 1930 the co-operatives handled 77 per

(in per cent) (in per cent)1922-23 14 .4 10 .3 24 .7 75 .3 5 .0 95 .01926-27 16 .o 48 .5 64 .5 35 .5 25 .5 74 .51930 17 .4 76 .8 94 .2 5 .8 77 .5 22 .5

1933 48 .0 52 .0 100 .0 0 .0 '00 .0 0 .0

1934 58 .0 42 .0 100.0 0.0 100.0 0 .0

386


cent of the total retail trade and state organizations only 17per cent . It was considered that the virtual monopoly positionenjoyed by the former led to a tendency to neglect the qualityof the service and slight the needs of the consumers . The in-crease of state commercial trade has introduced an elementof competition which is said to have had beneficial results . Theturnover of the Commissariat for Internal Trade (which wasformed in 1934 when the Commissariat for Supply was splitup into two commissariats-one for the food industry and onefor domestic trade) now exceeds that of the consumers' co-operatives . In 1934, state trade accounted for 58 per centof the total internal trade, while the share of co-operatives wasreduced to 42 per cent . At the same time, the co-operativestores remain the dominant trading organizations in the ruralareas, accounting in 1934 for 58.2 per cent of the villagetrade turnover . The total trade turnover of the co-operativesin 1934 was 25 billion rubles, exceeding that of the previousyear by 11 per cent.

The consumers' co-operatives now embrace about three-fourths of the adult population of the U.S .S.R ., having risenfrom 24.7 million on January 1, 1929, to 73 .1 million onJanuary 1, 1933 . Of the latter total the rural population ac-counted for 49 .6 million, or over two-thirds. The share capitalof the consumers' co-operatives increased from 183 .3 millionrubles on October 1, 1928, to 2,006 .5 million rubles on Janu-ary 1, 1933 40 per cent above the Five-Year Plan schedule forthe end of 1933 . The co-operative trade network (stores andstands) grew from 94,200 units on January 1, 1929, to ap-proximately 199,000 units on January 1, 1 934 .

In addition to their regular trade network the consumers'co-operatives operate a number of auxiliary enterprises, such asrestaurants, kitchen factories, bakeries, truck gardens and dairyand small livestock farms . The progress made in the develop-

DOMESTIC TRADE

387

ment of certain of these auxiliary enterprises is set forth in thetable below :

The rapid development of the consumers' co-operativeswas made possible by large capital investments, which totaled1 .1 billion rubles during the first Five-Year Plan period . Over-head trading and distributing expenses dropped from 17 .1 percent of the total turnover in 1929 to 13 .4 per cent in 1932 .

"Closed" Stores and Workers' Supply DepartmentsA special type of retail store which has been developed in the

Soviet Union is the "closed" store, i .e ., a store closed to all buta definite clientele, such as workers of a certain industrial plantor state farm. In 1932 such stores made up over 40 per centof the entire urban trade network of the consumers' co-opera-tives . They embrace particularly the workers in the basic in-dustries and at the new large plants, and also to a considerableextent the workers engaged in transport, in the peat and fish-ing industries, at lumber camps and on state farms . The statetrading system likewise includes in its network closed storeswhich serve separate enterprises or group of enterprises or spe-cial categories of workers . For example, there has been estab-lished a special network of closed stores for foreign engi-neers and technicians, operated by "Insnab" (Foreigners' Sup-ply Company)?

With the aim of improving the organization of the foodand commodity supply of the personnel in the basic industries, a

2 The necessity for such stores having been eliminated by the increased supply andvariety of commodities on the market, they were abolished in the Summer of 1935 .

1930 1932Area under vegetables (thous . ha .) 44 .7 466 .8Vegetable harvest, exclusive of potatoes (thous . tons) 145 .8 1,83o .zPotato harvest (thous. tons) 112 .5 700 .0Hothouse frames (thousands) 300 .0 2,878 .1Vegetable and fruit preserving (thous . tons) 102 .5 5z6 .6Number of mechanized bakeries 18o 298Output of mechanized bakeries (thous . tons) 3,512 .0 6,257 .0

388


decree was issued in December, 1932, whereby the closed

stores in 260 of the most important of the plants were turned

over, together with all subsidiary enterprises, to the factory

managements. This is reported to have made for efficiency,closer co-ordination between the stores and the specific needs

of each plant, and greater initiative in the development oflocal subsidiary agricultural enterprises . The latter constitutean important supplementary source of food supply for the fac-tory workers. Many industrial plants conduct vegetable anddairy farms and rabbit, poultry, and hog-breeding enterprises .Factories and plants of heavy industry invested in 1932 a

total of 70 million rubles in subsidiary agricultural enterprises .

These departments, termed "workers' supply departments",

served about 16,5oo,ooo employees in 1 934 .The system of "closed" stores was regarded as necessitated

by the program of intensive industrialization . The additionof millions of new workers in industry and the rapid growth of

cities, at a time when the system of agriculture was undergoinga basic transformation and private trade being eliminated, made

it necessary for the state to take measures to insure the dis-tribution of the available supplies of foodstuffs and other prod-ucts in such a manner as to enable every usefully employedperson and his family to obtain the requisite supplies at lowprices. This was accomplished through the system of ration-ing. At a time when open market prices were very high thecard system enabled the city population to purchase the basicnecessities at low fixed prices . It also enabled the state to givepreferential supplies to the most important centers and to theso-called "shock workers" in industry . In 1934 about fiftymillion workers, employees, students, etc . and their familiesreceived supplies from such centralized sources . However, thissystem has involved a huge, unwieldy and expensive apparatus,

and with the increasing stocks of foodstuffs and manufactured

DOMESTIC TRADE

389

products available for the market and the steady strengtheningof commercial trade, it will be abolished in the near future . Theaim is to have, as soon as it is considered feasible, a single systemof trading units open to all purchasers and with a uniform scaleof prices .

An important step in this direction was the decision at theend of 1934 to abolish the card system through which breadwas sold in rationed quantities . State and co-operative storesnow sell bread to all purchasers in unlimited quantities and atfixed prices. The good grain crops of 1933 and 1934 havebeen the principal factor making possible this development,which is viewed as laying the foundation for the progressiveabolition of the ration system for all products in the nearfuture .

State Commercial TradeAnother important development in this direction has been

the rapid growth of state "commercial" trade. In 1931 tradein "commercial" stores (those open to the general public andselling on a non-rationed basis, in contrast to the "closed"stores constituted only about three per cent of the total tradeturnover . By 1933, the share of such commercial trade hadrisen to 15 per cent and in 1934 it constituted 24 per centof the total turnover . A large factor in this growth was theopening of thousands of commercial bread stores, in prepara-tion for the abolition of the card system . By the end of 1934,these stores numbered more than 8,ooo ; in addition unre-stricted sale of bread is carried on by some 9,000 general foodshops .

A feature of the new trends in internal trade has been the

s At the end of September, 1935, a decree was announced abolishing, as of October 1,the rationing system for meats, fats, sugar and fish, the only important products stillrestricted, and the ending of the system of "closed" stores . At the same time, generalprice declines, ranging from 2o to 45 per cent for various items, were decreed, the newprices being in between those of the "closed" and commercial stores .

390


opening of many new model stores dealing in high grademerchandise. For instance, during 1934 the "Gastronom"Trust opened 120 delicatessen shops in the larger cities, eachemploying 25 or.3o persons. The "Bakalei" Trust recentlyestablished 70 large model grocery stores . Four large depart-ment stores have been opened, one each in Moscow, Leningrad,Kharkov and Vladivostok. The number of employees in thesestores averages 4,800 . In addition, there have been organizedten regional department stores, each with an average of 175-200 workers. Since the middle of 1933 thousands of otherspecialized stores dealing in foodstuffs and manufactured goodshave been opened. The industrial co-operatives alone operatedmore than 7,600 stores on August x, 1934 . Both in the cityand in the village there is now a lively trade in such itemsas high-grade woolen and silk fabrics, ready-made clothing,music instruments, sports goods, bicycles, phonographs, elec-trical appliances, sewing machines, radios, cameras, etc . Mos-torg (the Moscow Trading Trust has increased the numberof items sold in its stores from 1,500 to 17,000 within the pastfew years.

An important result of the development of state commer-cial trade has been the steady and considerable lowering ofprices of foodstuffs and manufactured products on the openmarket. Commercial prices on such items as butter, milk, soap,thread, cotton, woolen cloth and shoes were officially reportedas from 15 to more than 50 per cent lower in 1934 than inthe previous year . In this way, one of the principal prerequisitesfor a transition to normal, unrationed trade, i.e ., the loweringof prices and the reduction of the gap between prices on theopen market and in closed stores, is being realized .

The progressive abolition of rationing and the establishmentof a single system of prices is expected to lead to a correspond-ing strengthening of the ruble. It also is expected to result

DOMESTIC TRADE 391

in increasing the importance of wages, since under the rationsystem wage differentials are to some extent nullified by theinability of those in the higher brackets to purchase the re-quisite amount of goods except at the higher prices on the openmarket .

Collective Farm TradeCollective farms in the vicinity of a factory constitute an-

other source of local supply . Special agreements are enteredinto between the factory and the collectives whereby, in returnfor manufactured goods and services furnished the latter, theirsurplus produce is delivered to the factory store .

Collective farm trade was first set in operation in May,1932 . At that time the Government issued a number of de-crees lowering the amount of grain, meat, fruit and vegetablesto be delivered by the collective farms to the state and provid-ing for the unrestricted sale of all surplus produce after thefulfillment of the new schedules and the setting aside ofadequate seed funds . The main aims of the new trade were :(i) to provide the collective farmers with a supplementarysource of income and thus strengthen their economic position ;(2) to furnish an additional stimulus for improvement in thework on collective farms ; (3) to provide another channel forgoods exchange between city and country . By the end of1932 from one-fifth to one-fourth of all collective farms hadbeen drawn into regular participation in collective farm trade .The permanent trade network comprised approximately 20,-000 booths and stands . In addition, numerous bazaars anddozens of large fairs had been held, the latter sometimes last-ing for weeks and involving turnovers of millions of rubles .

While in the early period the bazaar type of trade, i .e .,trade directly from peasant carts, prevailed, this is graduallygiving way to trade from permanent booths or stands. In addi-tion to trade through their own trade network, the collective


farms may enter into agreements with nearby factories or co-operative stores or large markets, such as the Arbat market inMoscow, to supply them regularly with agricultural produce .In such cases the latter in their turn agree to assist the collec-tive farm in various ways. For instance, the market may takecare of the transport of the produce from the railway stationto the market, provide booths, warehouse space, tools andequipment, and assist collective farms and their members toobtain manufactured consumers' goods.

This new form of internal trade has proved to be an im-portant means of bringing a large and increasing volume ofagricultural produce into the markets. The introduction in 1 933of fixed quotas to be turned over by the peasants to state procur-ing organizations made it possible for the peasants to bring agreater quantity of surplus produce to market, and considerablyearlier in the season, than formerly . While means are beingtaken to assist the development of the collective farm trade, theopening of private stores and speculation are forbidden .

The consumers' co-operatives play a two-fold role in con-nection with the development of collective farm trade : first, asmiddlemen and distributors for certain products ; second, asorganizers and instructors . The co-operatives watch the collec-tive farm market and when there is a surplus of grain, meat,or vegetables, buy the surplus supplies and store them for salein the slack season. They sign contracts with the collectivefarms for the delivery of staple products, such as potatoes,carrots, cabbage, etc ., and act as distributors of these goodsas well as those supplied by the state . In their role as organizersthe co-operatives assist the collectives in developing trade, inlocating and equipping stores and stalls, in improving methodsof trade, etc .'

* A decree issued on September 30 provided for the liquidation of the consumers'cooperative societies in the cities and the turning over of their trading facilities to statetrading organizations. The cooperatives will henceforth devote themselves entirely tovillage trade . The decree also called for the opening of f,ooo large new village depart-ment stores and the elimination of about 22,000 small, "crossroads" general stores .

DOMESTIC TRADE 393

Public Catering ServicesThe network of public catering enterprises-such as res-

taurants, kitchen factories, dietetic institutes, and departmentsin industrial plants, lunch-rooms for school children, etc .-has recorded rapid growth during the past few years . Theaim of these institutions is to serve balanced, wholesome mealsat the lowest possible cost . By the end of 1932 the number ofrestaurants and kitchen factories in towns, operated by theCommissariat for Supplies and consumers' co-operatives, 6 to-taled 13,982 (io6 kitchen factories), as compared with 1,500(3 kitchen factories) in 1928 . The number of persons servedby them increased from 750,000 in 1928 to 19.8 million at theend of 1933, 8 .6 times the figure set by the Five-Year Planfor 1 933 ( 2 .3 million) . According to the Plan, 20 per centof the total number of factory workers were to have beenserved by public catering establishments ; actually over 70 percent of all workers (miners, transport and building tradesworkers, as well as factory workers) and 9o per cent of theworkers in the basic industries were so served by 1933 . Seventyper cent of the school children receive hot lunches at schooland 75 per cent of the university students obtain their mealsat university lunchrooms . In 1934 the total number of publiccatering establishments in the U .S.S.R. rose to nearly 6o,ooo,as compared with 55,000 on Jan . 1, 1 933 .

As an example of public catering at large industrial plantsmay be taken the "Red Putilov" factory in Leningrad . In1932 the system of public catering at this plant was reorgan-ized. Instead of the former buffets fifteen new, well-equippedrestaurants were established . These restaurants receive semi-prepared food from a large mechanized kitchen factory nearthe plant. Meat is included in the menus not less than 20 times

e While the bulk of the public catering enterprises are operated by these two organizations,a growing number are operated by the producers' co-operatives and the industrial commis-sariats.


per month . Workers in need of special diets receive three

meals per day in a special dietetic restaurant, serving about

55 0 persons, under the direct supervision of the factory physi-cian .

The public catering network serves not only the city workersbut the workers in lumber camps, peat bogs, machine-tractorstations and on state and collective farms . In 1932 there were

12,500 communal dining rooms and restaurants for theseworkers (exclusive of collective farms) operated by the con-

sumers' co-operatives, and from 85 to 9o per cent of the

workers, both permanent and seasonal, were served .

The total turnover of the public catering system, in both

urban and rural districts, rose from 102 million rubles in 1928to 6,670 million rubles in 1934. The number of workers em-

ployed in the establishments operated by the Commissariat forSupply and the consumers' co-operatives amounted to 549,000in 1933 . Ten scientific-research institutes are engaged in

studying the problems of public catering . Three higher andtwenty-three secondary schools train engineers, chemists, man-

agers and accountants for work in the public catering service .

Public restaurants and kitchen factories play an importantrole in facilitating the participation of women in productivelabor. Soviet economists have estimated that the release fromhousekeeping burdens will increase the total number of adulturban workers by about one-third . Of these about halfwill be released for industry . Partly as a result of this develop-ment, the average number of wage-earners in a family of anindustrial worker rose from 1 .2 at the end of 1928 to 1 .5 atthe end of 1932, and the average wage income per familyincreased by 75-77 per cent .

Second Five-Year PlanOne of the objectives announced for the second Five-Year

Plan is to effect a substantial rise in the standard of living .

DOMESTIC TRADE 395

In line with this objective there is to be a great increase inretail trade turnover-from 40 .3 billion rubles in 1932 to92.5 billion in 1937 . Textile, clothing, shoes, household uten-sils, foodstuffs, soap and other manufactured goods of generalconsumption are expected to show gains ranging from 100 to300 per cent . The share of rural trade in the total turnoveris scheduled to increase from 28 to 31 per cent . It is plannedto reduce retail prices 35 per cent on the average during theperiod . At the same time, the aim is to effect marked improve-ments in the efficiency of the distribution system, to introducemuch new equipment, to improve the quality and assortmentof merchandise . The number of retail trading units is sched-uled to increase from 295,600 at the end of 1932 to 405,000at the end of 1 937 .

There is also to be a considerable extension of the networkof restaurants and dining rooms . In the urban centers 27million people are to be served by these enterprises in 1937 ascompared with 13 million in 1932 . If kindergartens, nurseries,sanitariums, etc ., are included, about 33 million people, or al-most three-fourths of the urban population, will take at leastone meal a day in the public feeding establishments in 1 937 .Prices are scheduled to be reduced 25 per cent during thefive years .

The total turnover of the state and cooperative cateringenterprises is to increase by 165 per cent (to 12 .7 billionrubles), the number of courses prepared from 9 .7 billion in1932 to 25 .15 billion in 1937 . The number of dietitians andother trained specialists is to increase from 16,ooo to 30,000and a wide network of laboratories is to be set up to control andtest the quality of food served as well as the hygienic andsanitary facilities maintained by the restaurants and factorykitchens .

XIV.

FINANCE

The Currency SystemTHE present-day Soviet currency was established as a resultof the currency reform of 1924, which consolidated the partialstabilization of currency of the previous year and stopped thelarge issue of paper money that characterized the post-warinflation period . The amount of money in circulation onDecember 1, 1921 had reached the sum of 9,800 billion rubles,with a consequent depreciation in the purchasing power of therubles to one-138,oooth of the 1913 level . In 1923 theamount of paper money in circulation reached the stupendoussum of 1,994,464 billion rubles .

Prior to the currency reform, partial stabilization of thecurrency had been accomplished by the issue, at the end of1922, of State Bank notes, in denominations of 1, 2, 3, 5, 10,25 and 50 chervontzi (one chervonetz equals 1o gold rubles)with a backing of precious metals and stable foreign currencyof not less than 25 per cent of the amount of the issue . Thecontinued issuance of treasury notes during the ensuing year,having no established value and circulating side by side withthe chervontzi, resulted in an abnormal situation which wasonly solved by the decrees of 1924 .

The currency reform decrees established two types of cur-rency, the notes of the State Bank and treasury notes (in de-nominations of 1, 3 and 5 rubles) . The issue of treasurynotes originally was limited to 50 per cent of the State Bankissue but subsequently the limit was raised to 75 and later toloo per cent. The decrees likewise provided for the redemp-396

tion of the old treasury notes at the rate of one ruble of thenew issue for 50,000 of the 1923 issue, and proportionaterates for earlier issues . In addition, there are two differentkinds of silver coins-those with a lower proportion of alloy(in denominations of one ruble and 5o kopeks) and those witha higher proportion of alloy (in denominations of 20, 15 andio kopeks)-and copper coins in 1, 2, 3 and 5-kopek de-nominations.

On April 1, 1935, the total currency in circulationamounted to 7,879 million rubles. Of this sum about half(3,978 million rubles) was made up of notes of the StateBank and the remainder of treasury notes (3,501 millionrubles), silver and nickel coins (345 million rubles), andcopper and bronze coins (56 million rubles) . The gold re-serve of the State Bank increased from 20,370,000 cher-vontzi on April 1, 1928 to 85,835,583 chervontzi on April I,

1 935 ($747,886,000 at the present gold parity of the ruble-I ruble = 87.13 cents) . The growth in Soviet currency circu-lation since 1924, which accompanied the development of thecountry, is shown in the following table :

CURRENCY IN CIRCULATION(in million rubles)

FINANCE 397

DATESTATE

BANK NOTES

TREASURY NOTES

AND SILVER, COPPER,AND BRONZE COINS TOTAL

October I, 1924 346 .5 280 .7 627 .2October I, 1925 65z .o 490 .9 1,142 .9October I, 1926 780 .6 562 .5 1,343 .1October 1, 1927 989 .8 638 .5 1,628 .3October I, 1928 1,063 .4 907 .4 1970 .8October I, 1929 1,428 .2 1,214 .0 2,642 .2October 1, 1930 2,130 .3 2,133 .6 4,263 .9September I, 1931 2,362 .2 2,500 .7 4,862 .9September 1, 1932 3,430.3 3,062 .7 6,493 . 0January 1, 1 934 3,432 .0 3,429 .0 6,861 .0January 1, 1935 3,838 .4 3,895 .4 7,733 .8April 1, 1935 3,978 .0 3,901 .4 7,879 .4

398


Soviet currency has circulation only within the U .S.S.R .,both exports and imports thereof being prohibited by law. Allpayments abroad are made in foreign currency .

Banking System o f the U .S.S.R .

The development of the banking system of the U .S.S.R .dates from the organization of the State Bank in the latterpart of 1921, soon after the introduction of the New EconomicPolicy. During the period 1917 to 1920, subsequent to thedecree of 1917 nationalizing all banks, the latter had confinedtheir activity solely to economic accounting or statistical workand during 1918 and 1919 had practically ceased to exist, theformer State Bank having practically been merged with theCommissariat for Finance .

The introduction of the New Economic Policy, the revivalof industry and trade, the introduction of private enterprise,and the consequent stabilization of the currency necessitatedthe establishment of banks and other credit institutions . Duringthe ensuing period of rehabilitation the banks were largelyinstrumental in stabilizing the depreciated currency, in intro-ducing economic accounting in state enterprises, in establishingneeded credits for important industries and in strengtheningthe economic bonds between the various regions of the SovietUnion. During this period, in addition to the government andcooperative banks, there also existed a number of privately-owned mutual credit associations which furnished private enter-prises with required funds and credit. From October 1, 1923to October 1, 1925, the total number of banking institutionsand branches rose from 516 to 1,201 . The growth of theiroperations is evident from the increase in the total amountof loans made, from 586 to 2,745 million rubles, and in theamount of deposits and current accounts, from 178 to 1,214million rubles .

FINANCE

399

The year 1926 marked a change in the activities of thebanks ; in the previous years almost no capital investments hadbeen made by the state or individual enterprises and this ledto a rapid growth in the amount of deposits and current ac-counts in the banks. Beginning with 1926, however, markingthe inauguration of the reconstruction period, large sums wereinvested in capital construction and enterprises began to drawon their accumulated funds . During this and the subsequentyears the main source of the banks' funds became the govern-ment budget. At the same time state-owned industry hadgradually been becoming the dominant form of enterprise . Asa result of the gradual elimination of private organizations themutual credit associations began to disappear, their place beingtaken by government and cooperative institutions . The banksbegan to take on more and more the function of a controllinglever in the hands of the state, their operations being intimatelybound up with its general economic policy .

There are at present no private banks in the Soviet Union .The state and cooperative banks play an important role in theexecution of the state budget, in the accumulation and redis-tribution of the national income, and in the control of financialoperations in state-owned enterprises .

The growth of the banking system of the U .S .S.R. duringthe past ten years is shown in the following table :

BANKS AND BRANCHES IN THE U .S .S .R.OCT. 1, OCT. 1, JAN . I, JAN . I, JAN. I,

1923 1928 1932 1933 1934State Bank • 252 599 2,465 2,199 2,140Joint Stock Short-term

Credit Banks 50 16 3 3 -Cooperative Short-term

Credit Banks 65 87 - -Long-term Credit Bank

for Industry and Elec-trification - 7 34 96 108

400


Credit Reform Act o f 1930One of the outstanding features of the Soviet banking sys-

tem is the separation of short-term and long-term credit opera-tions, which has gradually been put into effect . The formerwere to a large degree concentrated in the State Bank eversince its organization, but not until the credit reform of 1930did this bank become practically the sole source of these credits .Long-term credits were handled by the Long-Term CreditBank for Industry and Electrification .

When the New Economic Policy was introduced in 1921the immediate problem was the restoration of the financialsystem . The general state of affairs was then too chaotic toallow of the initiation of a new method, designed to cover thepeculiar economic needs of a country with state ownership ofindustries, etc . Bills of exchange and in general the mechan-isms employed in the financial systems in other countries wereadopted as the general method for the circulation of com-modities . This was found to be inadequate in a system wherethe production and the transfer of commodities are regulatedby state plan and not by prices or by the credit of the purchaser .In the opinion of the planners and economists of theU.S .S.R., the Five-Year Plan could not have been carriedout effectively as long as the old credit system, which had asits outstanding feature the bill of exchange, was maintained .

To meet the exigencies of the situation, the Credit Reform

OCT . I, OCT. 1, JAN. I, JAN . I, JAN . I,5923 1928 1932 1933 1934

Cooperative Long-termCredit Banks - 3 33 26

Municipal CreditBanks 27 125 98 134 182

Agricultural CreditBanks 24 237 - 488 493

Mutual Credit Asso-ciations 53 236

FINANCE 401

Act was enacted on January 30, 1930 . This act, which becameoperative April t, 193o, decreed : i) the abolition of thecommercial credit system between different state enterprisesand the substitution therefor of bank credit ; 2) changes inthe methods of financing state industry and the cooperatives ;3) the reorganization of the cooperative banks ; 4) the reor-ganization of the agricultural banking system . The State Bankprovided short-term credits not to the sellers, as was the caseunder the system of discounting bills, but to the buyers ofgoods .

The credit reform was a step in the direction of the estab-lishment of one unified bank for the entire country . It under-took to rationalize and centralize the short-term credit facili-ties. It made the State Bank the accounting center of thenational economy by giving it control over the finances ofstate-owned enterprises . It facilitated the transfer of com-modities, which could now be bought and sold through asimple entry on the books of the State Bank-debiting thepurchaser and crediting the account of the seller .

In practice, however, certain weaknesses or distortions of theCredit Reform Act were cited by government economists, suchas, on the one hand, the granting of lump credits to variouseconomic organizations in accordance with their financial andproduction programs without considering the fulfillment ofthis program, resulting in an actual overcrediting of some andundercrediting of other industrial enterprises ; and, on theother hand, the automatic payment by the State Bank for goodsshipped irrespective of the wishes of the purchaser or the con-dition of the goods. This sometimes resulted in negligence andirresponsibility on the part of the producer with regard to thequality, quantity and time of delivery of goods . A third weak-ness was the method of crediting profits to producing organ-izations prior to final determination of the cost of production .

4.02


It consequently was found necessary to issue supplementarydecrees in the following year, correcting these weaknesses .These corrective measures did away with the mechanicalmanner of making settlements which hitherto had existed,emphasized the importance of the contract between seller andpurchaser, and placed the granting of loans on a basis of thefulfillment of the financial and production plans and of promptrepayment. The decrees further made provision for supplyingeach enterprise with sufficient funds to meet all current operat-ing expenditures, such as for raw materials, labor, etc ., andestablished the purposes for which financing by bank creditscould be arranged . These included financing of goods intransit, advance payments for seasonal work, payments forprocurements of seasonal stocks of raw materials, fuel, etc .,and for other temporary needs arising from the general con-duct of the industry . All funds of the organization, its ownas well as those derived from loans, were to be deposited to itsaccount with the State Bank, which maintains a single currentaccount for each enterprise or trust. These measures are re-ported to have increased greatly the effectiveness of economicaccounting and the control of state enterprises through themedium of the banking system .State Bank o f the U .S.S.R .

The central credit institution of the U .S.S.R. and the onlybank of issue is the State Bank, which was established onOctober 12, 1921, shortly after the introduction of the NewEconomic Policy . Its foundation capital, received from thegovernment, consisted of two trillion paper rubles, equivalent toabout 50 million prewar rubles. The development of the StateBank during subsequent years has been a reflection of thedevelopment of the national economy as a whole. Originallyorganized with a capital of depreciated currency, the bank suc-ceeded in accumulating through its purchases and operations

FINANCE 403

a considerable reserve of gold and other precious metals, valuedon January 1, 1929 at 223 million rubles, and on January i,1935 at more than 862 million rubles .

In the first years of its existence the chief tasks of the Bankwere the establishment of a stabilized currency and the foster-ing of the development of state-owned industry and agricul-ture. During the period of civil war immediately followingthe establishment of the Soviet Government, the credit struc-ture of the nation had reached a state of collapse . With organ-ization of the State Bank, credit operations were resumed andcontacts along credit lines re-established with the rest of theworld .

Credits extended to various branches of the national econ-omy by the State Bank increased from 525 million rubles onOctober 1, 1924 to 2.66 billion on January 1, 1929 and10.56 billion rubles on January 1, 1934 . The funds of theState Bank, which are used for financing industry, agricultureand trade, are derived mainly from the following sources :deposits of government and budget funds; emission of bank-notes ; the bank's own capital, reserves, and accumulated pro-fits; deposits and accounts of industrial and trading enterprises,banks, and private individuals . Total assets of the Bank rosefrom 155 million rubles in 1922 to 19 .5 billion rubles on May1, 1932 .

The present constitution of the State Bank is embodied in itsStatutes, which were approved by the Central Executive Com-mittee and the Council of People's Commissars on June 12,1929. According to these Statutes, the function of the bank is"to regulate currency circulation and provide short-term creditsfor industry, agriculture, commerce, transport and otherbranches of national economy ."

The bank is governed by a council (40 members) and aboard of directors (seven members) . The commissar for


finance is chairman of the council, which meets at least twicea year, formulates the general policy and nominates members

to the board . The latter's chairman and vice-chairman areappointed by the Council of People's Commissars .

The network of branches of the State Bank has been rapidlyextended in the thirteen years of its existence . On October 1,

1922, one year after its organization, it had 117 branches

throughout the country ; of these 89 were concentrated in the

Russian Republic. By 1928 the number had reached 599 andon January 1, 1934, there were 2,140 branches distributed

as follows : Russian Republic 1,564, Ukraine 232, Transcau-casia 133, White Russia 75 and Central Asia 136 . In 1922there were no branches in Transcaucasia and only three inCentral Asia .

The relative importance of the State Bank in the generalbanking system has likewise increased. On October 1, 1922there were in all 471 banks and branches in the U .S.S.R . ofwhich 252 belonged to the State Bank . On January 1, 1 934the figures were respectively 2,949 and 2,140 (not including

savings banks) . Moreover, a number of the remaining banks

work in direct contact with the State Bank, which has con-siderable powers of control over them .

The granting of short-term loans, which is handled solely

by the State Bank, is strictly regulated by various legal limita-tions. As a general rule enterprises are able to finance theirnormal operations and growth from funds assigned them bythe state budget and their own accumulated resources . Con-sequently, the State Bank does not extend credit to enterprisesfor these purposes nor to cover losses incurred from impropermanagement or excessive cost of production . In addition tofixing the requirements which can be financed by bank credit-

payment for goods in transit, seasonal needs, etc .-the lawprovides for strict enforcement of timely repayment of loans

NET INDEBTEDNESS TO

* Credit balance

The issue department of the State Bank is conducted sepa-rately from the banking division and publishes its own state-ments. The following is the balance sheet of the issue depart-ment for January 1, 1935, and for earlier years. All amountsare in chervontzi (i o gold rubles, equivalent to $5 .146 atthe old and $8 .713 at the new parity, established after thereduction in the gold content of the dollar)

FINANCE 405

by enterprises . These measures operate, on the one hand, as acontrol of the proper fulfillment of production and financialprograms by individual organizations and, on the other, as asafeguard of the funds of the State Bank . As the depositoryof government funds the Bank controls the distribution ofbudget allotments to the various branches of national economy .

The growth of the credit operations of the State Bankduring the past five years (more than 300 per cent) is in-dicated in the following table showing the obligations of thevarious state and cooperative organizations at the beginningof each year :

STATE BANK ON JANUARY i1929 1931

1933 1934

TOTAL-(in millions o f rubles)

z,656 10,5645,658 6,63,Commissariat for Heavy Industry 535 918 427 68oCommissariat for Light Industry 607 386 464 r,16oCommissariat for Lumber Industry 143 667 361 574Commissariat for Internal Supply

and Procurements' Committee 476 990 2,761 4,017Commissariat for Agriculture and

State and Collective Farms 173 396 7z6 6S5Agricultural Cooperatives 179 7zo z65 289Transport 19 144 * 22 104Communications 4 4* 6S* 77Commissariat for Foreign Trade 2o4 404 68 * 72Consumers' Cooperatives and Workers'Supply Departments 233 1 ,238 1 ,634 3,056

Producers' Cooperatives 73 141 180 241


The following table shows the issue of banknotes duringthe period

1925-1935and the amount of firm cover (precious

metals and stable foreign currency

The State Bank occupies an important place in financingthe foreign trade operations of the U .S .S.R. In 1929, out of atotal sum of credits granted for foreign trade operations of623 million rubles, 523 million or 84 per cent were loanedby the State Bank . Payments by and to Soviet organizationsfor such operations are made through the State Bank, the pay-ments abroad being effected through its correspondents in vari-ous parts of the world .

DATE

BANKNOTES TRANSFERRED

FIRM RATIO

(in per cent)TO STATE BANK COVER

(in million rubles)

Jan. 1, 1925 596 .0 253 .6 42 .6Jan. 1, 1927 885 .2 255 .4 28.9Jan . I, 1929 1,122 .6 304 .1 27.1Jan . 1, 1931 2,100 .4 561 .o 26 .7JULY 1, 1932 2,925 .5 733 .8 25 .1Oct . 1, 1933 3,387 . 4 858 .6 25 .3Jan . 1, 1934 3,432 .5 86z .o 25 .1July 1, 1934 3,421 .6 862 .3 25 .2Jan . 1, 1935 3,838 .4 896 .6 23 .4Apr. I, 1935 3,978 .0 904 .8 22 .7

ASSETS JAN . 1, 1929 JAN . 1, 1931 OCT. 1, 1933 JAN . 1, 1935

Gold in coin and bars 17,855,890 48,364,314 80,848,238 85,434,107Other precious metals 4,436,262 2,225,848 1,360,308 841,442

Foreign banknotes 7,845,561 5,207,154 3,325,388 2,950,376Drafts in foreign currencies 275,815 33 02,361 323,180 434,456Collateral for short-term loans 82,586,472 155,900,323 277,642,886 294,839,6x9

113,000,000 212,000,000 363,500,000 384,500,000

LIABILITIES

Banknotes transferred

to State Bank 112,256,151 210,040,942 338,743,831 383,836,210

Balance against which notes may

still be issued 743,849 1,959,058 24,756,169 663,790

TOTAL 113,000,000 212,000,000 363,500,000 384,500,000

FINANCE

407

Long-Term Credit BanksWhile the State Bank occupies the predominant place in the

Soviet banking system and is the only bank of issue and short-term credit, the long-term credit banks likewise perform amost important function, the financing of capital construction .Capital investments in state enterprises have shown a steadyincrease, going from 4 .1 billion rubles in 1928 to 18.4 billion

in 1933. With the aim of instituting stricter control in thesystem of financing capital construction, a decree was promul-gated on May 5, 1932, reorganizing the system of long-termcredit banks. This decree provides for the concentration of alllong-term credit operations in four banks, each of which fin-ances capital investments in a definite section of the nationaleconomy. The granting of credits is based on the actualexecution of plans.

The special banks operate not only with their own andbudget funds but with funds of the enterprises themselves andspecial sums assigned for financing expansion of plant. Govern-ment enterprises are required to set aside 12 .5 per cent oftheir annual profits for this purpose .

The first of these banks, the Prombank (Industrial Bank),is devoted to financing capital construction in all state under-takings of national and local importance controlled by theCommissariats for Heavy Industry, Light Industry, Lumber,Food Industry, Internal Trade and Foreign Trade, and bythe Procurements' Committee of the Council of Labor andDefense. The second, the Selkhozbank (Agricultural Bank),finances all capital investments in socialized agriculture . Thethird, the Vsekobank (All-Union Cooperative Bank), financescapital construction by cooperative organizations, except thehousing cooperatives. The fourth, the Tsekombank (CentralBank for Public Utilities), finances municipal public utilities,the construction of dwellings and the building of new cities .

408


With the exception of the Vsekobank, these banks carry onfinancing through non-repayable subsidies and long-termcredits . The cooperative organizations receive funds onlythrough long-term loans .

The Prombank, the full name of which is the "Long-TermCredit Bank for Industry and Electrification," has been inoperation since 1928 . Loans from the bank's own funds areextended at a definite rate of interest and are repayable . Creditsfrom other sources (from the budget, etc .) are non-interest-bearing and non-repayable . Nevertheless, in respect to theselatter credits the bank exercises considerable financial control,i . e ., sees to it that the credits granted are invested in capitalworks in accordance with the duly approved plan and withthe maximum efficiency .

The bulk of the financing of capital construction in industryand electrification is by non-repayable credits, the greatestshare of which is supplied by the state budget. However, in-dustrial enterprises are obliged to pay into the bank a certainshare of their profits, and as the many newly constructed plantsand power stations begin operation, the share supplied from theprofits of enterprises will increase .

The number of branches of the Prombank totaled io8 onJanuary 1, 1934 as compared with 96 a year previously, 34on January 1, 1932 and seven on October 1, 1928. With theaim of maintaining close contact with the actual constructionprojects these branches were opened in districts where a largeamount of building work was in process. The exercise of con-trol at the place of construction and the institution by the bankof strict accounting between the construction works and thesupplying organizations are reported to have had a favorableeffect in encouraging economy . The total capital constructionfinanced by the bank increased from 921 million rubles in1928-29 to 9,179 million rubles in 1933 . The distribution

FINANCE

409

and growth of the credit operations of the Prombank for theperiod 1928-1933 are shown in the following table :

FINANCING OF CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION THROUGH PROMBANK1928-29

1931

1933

The consolidation of municipal banks by the decree of 1932together with the growth in housing and other municipal con-struction resulted in a considerable increase in the operationsof the Tsekombank (Public Utilities Bank) . In 1933 financ-ing of such construction by the bank reached the sum of 1,875million rubles as compared with 235 million in 1928-29 . Thenumber of branches increased from 98 on January 1, 1932to 182 two years later . The growth and distribution of thefinancing operations of Tsekombank are shown below :

FINANCING OF CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION BY TSEKOMBANK1928-29

1931

1932

1933(in millions o f rubles)

I . Industry 95 .7 673 .3 1,083 .4 1,037 .8a) Heavy industry 62 .6 547 .2 803 .1 818 .0b) Light industry 9 .9 12 .1 35 .2 85 .5c) Lumber industry 4 .2 18 .5 30 .9 54. 5

(in millions o f rubles)Commissariat for Heavy Industry 714 .6 4,522 .6 5,486 .2

a) Coal 116 .6 381 .2 470.6b) Oil 75 .1 395 . 0 509 .6c) Peat 0.3 104.1 92 .8d) Ferrous metallurgy 190.7 1,169 .9 1,817.8e) Non-ferrous metallurgy 75 .9 297 . 3 529 .5f) Machine-building 94.7 1,055 .3 923 . 4

Electrification 152 .6 622 .2 6,2 .6Commissariat for Light Industry 18 .4 106 .9 316 .4

a) Textile industry 16 .9 69 .5 202.9Lumber Industry 31 .4 359 .4 299.9

andCommissariats for Internal Supply

Foreign Trade 3 .9 565 .9 598.6Commissariats

Waterfor Railways and

Transport 1,298 .1Miscellaneous 367 .0 567.5

Total 920 .9 6,544 .0 9,179.3


The Vsekobank (Cooperative Bank), while a part of thebanking system of the Commissariat for Finance, is governedby a board elected by its shareholders, the cooperative organ-izations . The scope of its work was greatly enlarged by adecree of May 5, 1932 increasing the number of its branchesand enabling it to perform independently certain functionsformerly carried out through the State Bank . By January I,

1934 the Vsekobank had 26 branches, as against 3 on January1, 1932 .

The Selkhozbank, formerly the Socialist Land Bank, finan-ces capital investments and new construction by state farms,machine-tractor stations and collectives . The short-term creditoperations of the agricultural mutual aid societies have beentaken over by the State Bank and its branches while long-termfinancing operations are now concentrated mainly in the Sel-khozbank. Credits are granted to a collective farm only if thelatter also invests its own funds in the undertaking . Theinterest rate on long-term loans is four per cent annually . The"indivisible funds" of the collective farms, formed of member-ship dues, proceeds from sales, insurance payments, etc ., is

1928-29 1931

1932

1933(in millions o f rubles)

d) Commissariat for InternalSupply - 21 .3 40 .0 43 .4

e) Commissariat for ForeignTrade - 9.9 32 .4 13 .8

f) Electric power 7 .8 18 .8 z8 .2 zz .6g) Miscellaneous 11 .2 45.5 113.6 -

II. Transport and Communication 28 .6 64 .8 103 .6 150 .9a) Commissariat for Railways 24 .7 43 .4 66 .3 62 .4b) Commissariat for Water

Transportation 3 .8 18 ., z, .6 28 .4c) Other 0 .1 3 .3 15 .7 6o .i

III. Executive Committees of Soviets 43 . 5 59 .4 90 .5 177 . 1IV. Miscellaneous 67 .4 218 .5 297 .9 509 .3

Total 235 .2 ,,o16 .o 1,575 .4 1,875 .1

FINANCE 411

kept on deposit in the Agricultural Bank and draws interestof eight per cent . On January 1, 1934 the number of branchesof the Selkhozbank totaled 493 as compared with 237 in 1928 .During the period 1931-1934 the Selkhozbank issued creditsof 1,168 million rubles to collective farms, assigning thesefunds for the development of stock breeding, the acquisitionof draft animals, agricultural machines, fertilizers, etc. Adecree promulgated at the end of 1934 cancelled all indebted-ness of the collective farms to the Agricultural Bank incurredup to 1933 . This measure, which was aimed at strengtheningthe economic position of the collective farms and assisting intheir future development, involved the cancellation of debtsamounting to 435 million rubles (including loans of 415million and interest of 20 million) .

Although the State Bank finances the bulk of the foreigntrade operations of the U.S .S.R ., the export of such rawmaterials as timber and petroleum, grain and dairy products,as well as industrial products is financed in part by the Vnesh-torgbank (Bank for Foreign Trade) . The Vneshtorgbank isthe successor of the Russkombank (Russian Commercial Bank)organized during the period of the New Economic Policy withthe assistance of Swedish capital . It fosters the establishmentof Soviet banks abroad, such as the Moscow Narodny Bank,Ltd., in England, etc .

Savings Banks

The chief function of the government savings banks in theU.S.S .R. is to mobilize the resources of small depositors, bothindividuals and organizations (trade unions, cooperatives, etc .),for the financing of the state-owned economy . Their growthduring the past years has been an indicator of the increase innational and individual income . On January 1, 1935, thenumber of depositors in Soviet savings banks totaled over 20

412


million and the amount of their deposits 1,636 million rubles,as compared with 3,788,400 depositors and deposits of 336million rubles on October i, 1928-a fivefold growth in bothdepositors and sums deposited . During the same period thenumber of branches increased from 16,43 8 to 57,55 6 .

Savings banks are under the supervision of the Commissariatfor Finance. Branches are attached to local finance depart-ments, agencies of the State Bank, post, telegraph and railwayoffices, factories, village libraries, etc . Depositors in the banksare paid interest-eight per cent on demand accounts and nineper cent on time accounts for individual clients . Interest onthe deposits of institutions and enterprises is limited to six percent on demand and seven per cent on time accounts .

There are also non-interest-bearing deposits on which de-positors have the opportunity to win prizes drawn by lottery .Aside from handling deposits, the savings banks perform anumber of other services, such as collecting payment for rent,electricity, gas and other public utilities, selling state bonds andpaying out interest and prizes thereon, etc .

A large part of the deposits is invested in government bonds.From 1925 to January 1, 1933 the amount of state bondsheld by the savings banks increased from 26 .5 to 892 millionrubles. During the year 1932 alone the amount of such bondsheld by the banks increased by nearly 300 million rubles .

The greatest period of growth of the savings banks wasduring the first Five-Year Plan (1928-1932) when the num-ber of depositors increased more than sixfold and the amountof deposits more than fourfold . At the same time, therelative importance of the different groups of depositorschanged. On October 1, 1928 the employees (technical andadministrative personnel) were the leading group, making up37 per cent of the total number ; manual workers were secondwith 22 .5 per cent and peasants third with 12 per cent . By

FINANCE

1933, the largest group of depositors were manual workers,who constituted 32 per cent of the total ; peasants were secondwith 27 per cent and staff employees third with 24 per cent .Deposits of staff employees, however, made up 27 per centof the total as against 21 per cent for manual workers andeight per cent for peasants. The remainder was accountedfor by institutions, organizations and enterprises .

The growth and distribution of savings banks deposits andthe number of depositors is given below :

413

Of the total number of depositors on January 1, 1934,19,200,600 comprised individuals and 737,700 "juridicalentities," i. e ., enterprises and organizations . The individualdepositors accounted for deposits to the amount of 1,181 .8

million rubles and the institutions and enterprises-347 .3 mil-lion rubles. Savings banks deposits of the latter group haveshown a decline in recent years (they amounted to 444 millionrubles on January 1, 1932), owing to the tendency of these

DATE

TOTAL FOR

U .S .S .R

TOTAL FORCITIES

TOTAL FORVILLAGES

Oct. 1, 1924 No. of branches 4,544 -No. of depositors (thous .) 537

Oct . I, 2926

Deposits (million rubles)No. of branches

II

24,526No. of depositors (thous.) 1,315Deposits (million rubles) 9o

Oct. 1, 1928 No. of branches 16,438 6,929 9,519No. of depositors (thous .) 3,788 2,699 1,089

Deposits (million rubles) 336 246 9o

Oct. 1, 1930 No. of branches 28,054 11,710 26,344No. of depositors (thous .) I2,902 8,184 4,718Deposits (million rubles) 754 543 211

Jan . 1, 1932 No. of branches 58,217 17,407 40,810

No. of depositors (thous .) 23,377 13,290 10,087Deposits (million rubles) 1,174 768 406

Jan . 1, 1934 No. of branches 47,218 14,183 33,035No. of depositors (thous .) 19,938 1o,96z 8,976Deposits (million rubles) I,5z9 1,077 452


organizations, as they increase in size, to go over to the com-mercial banking system .

Financing o f National Economy

In the U .S .S.R. all income and accumulation of stateenterprises (industrial, agricultural, trade, transportation,etc.), as well as taxes, loans, etc ., enter into the statefinancial plan and are redistributed by the government amongthe various branches of the national economy . During theperiod of the first Five-Year Plan (from October 1, 1928 toJanuary s, 1933) a total of 12o billion rubles was mobilizedand redistributed through the state financial system . Of thetotal sum, 6o billion rubles, or 50 per cent, constituted capitalinvestments in industry, agriculture, etc . ; 87.5 per cent of thelatter sum was invested in state and cooperative enterprises .

The major portion of these funds was accumulated anddistributed through the unified state budget, which combinesthe federal budget of the U .S .S.R. and the government budgetsof the seven constituent republics but does not include the localbudgets of the various autonomous republics and areas. Duringthe four and a quarter years of the first Five-Year Plan theincome of the unified state budget amounted to 72 .8 billionrubles, 6o per cent of the total income of the national economy .Budget expenditures amounted to 72 billion rubles for theperiod, as compared with an estimate of 45 billion in the Five-Year Plan . The state and local budgets together (totalbudget) grew from 12 .4 billion rubles in the fiscal year 1929-30 to 53.7 billion in 1934, that is, 41/2 times.

The role of the state budget in the financial system of theU .S .S.R. is defined by G . F. Grinko, People's Commissar forFinance, as "that guiding idea of financial economy whichdetermines the basic line of financial policy and administrationfor the year not only with respect to the budget but for all

FINANCE 415

enterprises operating on a commercial basis . The state budgetis inseparable from the economic program as a whole, but isnot at all a passive result or balance of the quantitative andqualitative fulfillment of the program. On the contrary, thebudget is a powerful factor in the struggle for the fulfillmentof this economic program . just as the income side of ourbudget is a reflection of the national economic plan, the growthof national income, development of trade, money income of thepopulation, accumulation by industry, agriculture, etc ., sois the expense side devoted entirely to the problem of furthercapital investment, the mastery of the newly created basic capi-tal and the carrying out of broad social and cultural measures ."

During the period from 1931 to 1934 the state and localbudgets assigned 144 billion rubles for financing of nationaleconomy, culture, administration and defense ; in addition tothis, the outstanding credits of the State Bank increased by 8 .1billion rubles . The expenditures of 144 billion rubles weredistributed as follows :

The distribution of the 93.3 billion rubles assigned for fin-ancing national economy was as follows : industry and statetrade received 58 .4 billion rubles, agriculture 17 .4 billionrubles, transport and communications 10 .9 billion rubles . Dur-

(in million rubles)1931 22,087 15 177 3,518 408 1,288

1 932 32,941 23,301 4,768 96z 1,296

1933 38,325 25159 6,123 1,273 1,4211 934 So,663 29,710 8,499 1,876 5,000

Total for fouryears 144,016 93,347 22,908 4,519 9,005

Including :

o waaz W a ~

0 a < a zz a 7. E" "'~ Q W E' F „< W

Uz

zo o

Q x a< W w`~

YEAR

TOTAL

EXYENDITURES

z

a.1a

o a a

Wz

KW z C

O .4a0

K

Cy U W

z f zw z W

j

ZO () ,


ing the period, 57.5 billion rubles, of which the All-Union

budget alone furnished 46.7 billion rubles, from all sources(including the accumulations of industry) were invested inthe development of state industry .

The total extent of investments from all sources in the re-

construction of transport and communications amounted to18.5 billion rubles during the four years, of which 12 .2 billion

rubles were invested in railway transport . The appropriationsfor housing and municipal construction totaled 8.7 billionrubles. During the period 44 .1 billion rubles, of which half(22 .1 billion rubles) was assigned from the state and localbudgets, were invested in social development, including educa-

tion, health service and social insurance .

The combined budget revenues of the seven constituent

republics increased from 1,096 million rubles in 1925-26 to

4,113 million in 1932 and 4,964 million in 1933 (about 12per cent of the unified state budget) . Of the latter sum, the

R.S .F.S.R. accounted for 54 per cent and the Ukraine 21

per cent. Local budget income increased from 1,275 millionrubles in 1925-26 to 6,065 in 1932 and 6,979 in 1 933 (69per cent of which fell to the share of the R .S.F.S.R. and 18

per cent to the Ukraine) .As a result of an important administrative reform, involv-

ing redistricting, the abolition of regions, the creation of dis-tricts and the establishment of independent village budgets,there has taken place a considerable growth in district and

village budgets . District budgets increased from 700 millionrubles in 1929-30 to 1 .8 billion in 1934. Rural budgets in-creased from 260 million to 1 .9 billion rubles .

Preliminary estimates of the fulfillment of the unified gov-ernment budget for 1934 place the income at 49,762 millionrubles, and expenditures at 46,948 million rubles, leaving asurplus Of . 2,814 million rubles. These figures represent a

FINANCE 417

considerable increase over 1933, when budget revenues totaled40.15 billion and expenditures, 35 .67 billion rubles, and aninefold increase over 1927-28 (with revenues of 5 .21 billionand expenditures of 5 .06 billion rubles) . The growth of theunified state budget during the period 1928-29 to 1934 isshown in the following tables :

UNIFIED STATE BUDGET OF THE U .S .S .R .

A . REVENUE1928-29 1932 1933 1934

I . Revenue from socialized econ-

(budgetestimate)

(in millions fo rubles)

-

omy 5,236 .5 25,404.7 32,616.4 41,125.21 . Turnover tax 3,146 .1 17,693 . 3 23,166 .5 29,227 .82 . Special commodity fund - 1,901 .8 3,893 . 7 6,300.03 . Agricultural tax on collec-

9 .9 121 .5 zzz .6 319.9tive farms4. Deductions from profits 535.0 1,409 .6 1,164 .7 1,521 .0

a) heavy industry 157 .8 388 .3 342 . 5 375 .9b) light industry 156 .2 163 .3 122 .2 87 .6c) food industry and trade 88 .3 229 .6 353 .8 5 1 5 . 7

5 . Transportation . 1,149.9 2,511 .9 2,484 .3 2,642 .7a) railway 1 , 11 5 .0 2,479 .2 2,437 .0 2,633 .5

6 . Communications 56 .2 324 . 3 284 .4 278 .97 . Internal loans in socialized

277 .8 1,128 .4 1,042 .0 445 .0economy8 . Other 61 .6 313 . 9 358 .2 389 .9

11 . Revenue from population 969 .6 4,572 .4 5,950.1 6,5z6 .o1 . Organized accumulation 447 .0 2,793 .3 3,365 .5 3,880.0

a) mass loans 270.2 2,370 .5 3,176 .3 3,580.0b) bonds purchased by sav-

176 .8 364 .0 169 .5 300.0ings banksz . Taxation 5zz .6 1,779 .1 2,584.6 2,646.0

a) tax for housing and cul-tural work - 941 .6 1 ,369 . 4 1,515 .0

b) agricultural tax 439 .5 337 .5 547 .6 6oo .oc) personal income tax 83 .1 114 .4 195 .9 207 .0

:II . Other revenue 448 .0 596 .4 1,586 .6 ,,zz8 .z

TOTAL REVENUE 6,654 . , 30,573 .5 40,153 .1 48,879.4


The 1935 budget shows further increases : revenues for theyear are set at 65 .9 billion rubles and expenditures at 65 .4billion, leaving a total of 500,000,000 rubles to be added tothe state reserve fund . Revenues are estimated to increase by32.4 per cent and expenditures by 39.3 per cent . The follow-ing tables show the structure of budgetary receipts and outlaysin 1935 as compared with the preliminary figures of the fulfill-ment of the 1934 budget :

B . EXPENDITURES1928-29 1932 1933

1934(budgetestimate)

(in millions of rubles)33,383 . 4I . Financing of national economy 3436 .5 23,161 .3 25,113 .9

x . Industry and trade 1,4094 15,357-z 16, I Z Z.3 14,755.0a) heavy industry and elec-

888 .6 10,435 .3 10,517 .1 11,360.9trificationb) light industry 28 .9 393 .4 758 .7 1,157 .8c) lumber industry 157-9 1,033 .8 968.8 957 .5

2 . Trade and food industry 257 .6 2,780 .3 3,073 .3 4,557-53 . Agriculture 540 .4 3,723 .5 3,917 .1 5,890 .04 . Transportation 1,282 .7 3,654 .2 3,377 .2 5,521 .9

a) railway 1,025 .5 z,661 .9 2,301 .5 3,736 .0b) water 180 .9 465 .1 543 .8 913 .1c) road construction and

74 .0 362 .2 347 .0 562 .2motor transportd) civil aviation 2 .3 165 .2 143 .8 225 .3

5 . Communications 46 .6 219 .8 184 .8 301 .56 . Municipal

housingeconomy and

67 .5 95 .7 88 .z 203 .07 . Other 89 .9 110 .9 1,424 .3 2,159 .4

II . Social and cultural measures 06.1 1,718 .7 2,334 .5 3018 .9i . Education 343 .7 1,524 .2 2,060.9 2,668 .72 . Health protection and phy-

37 .5 116.o 177 .1 237 .7sical cultureIII. Administration and defense I,256 .o 2,018 .3 7,433 .1 2,873 .3IV . Service on state loans 317 .5 961 .8 1,273 .0 1,702 .1V . Funds transferred to local

x,045 .6 1,724 .9 2,562 .2 3,698 .0budgetsVI. Other expenditures 198 .7 698 .0 1 ,949 .9 2,632 .7

TOTAL EXPENDTURES 6,670 .4 30,283 .0 35,666 .6 47,308 .4

FINANCE

B . EXPENDITUREINCREASE

419

ITEM OF EXPENDITURE

1934(Estimatedfulfillment)

1935(Plan)

OF 1935OVER

1934(per cent)(millions of rubles)

National Economy 27,952 .1 35,156 .9 z5 .8Social-cultural measures 3,214.8 4,804.3 49 .4People's Commissariat for Defense 5,000 .0 6,5oo .o 30 .0People's Commissariat for Home Affairs 1,048 .2 1,652 .5 57 .7Administration 688 .z 886 .2 28 .0Funds transferred to the budget of theA .S .S .R. and local budgets 4,882 .7 8,977 .3 83 .9

Other expenditures 4,161 .9 5,123 .4 23 .1Including: Expenses on state loans 1,792 .7 I,815 .o 1 .2

Reserve funds of council of People'sCommissars 1,764 .5 1,962 .5 11 .2

TOTAL 46,947 .9 63,100 .6 39 . 3Increase of State Bank's credit resources

due to revaluation of goods 21300-0

TOTAL 46,947.9 65,400.6 39 . 3

A . REVENUEINCREASE

ITEM OF REVENUE

1934(Estimatedfulfillment)

1935(Plan)

OF 1935OVER

1934(per cent)(millions of rubles)

I. Revenue from socialized economy 43,097.7 57,090 .3 +325a) Turnover tax 37,615 .0 52,025 .7 +38.3

Including commercial trade 8,361 .8 5,450 .0 34 .8b) Deductions from profits 2,283 .9 1,723 .7 -24 .5c) Contribution from social insurance fund

for health protection and payment ofstipends 1,321 .3 1,758 .4 +33 .1

II . Revenue from general population 5,922 .6 5,732 .8 - 3 .2Including : agricultural tax 561 .1 737 .8 +31 .5Mass Loans 3,320 .0 3,550 .0 + 6.9

III. Other revenues 741 .8 777 .5 + 4.8

49,762 .1 63,600 .6 +27.8IV. Revaluation of seasonal balance of

raw materials and goods on hand

21300-0on Jan . 1, 1935

TOTAL 49,762 .1 65,900 .6 +32.4


By far the largest portion of the state revenue is obtained

from state and co-operative enterprises. In 1934 this amounted

to 43 .1 billion rubles, making up about 87 per cent of the total

as compared with 81 per cent in 1933 and 79 per cent in 1928-

29. In 1935 state industries, agriculture and trade were sched-

uled to furnish almost go per cent of the budget income . Aboutthree-quarters of the revenue from this source comes from the

tax on business turnover, which yielded 23 billion rubles in

1933 and almost 38 billion in 1934, making up 58 per cent of

the total revenue in the former and 76 per cent in the latter

year. In 1935 the proportion was expected to rise to 82 per cent .On the other hand, the relative importance of deductions from

profits of state enterprises in the budget has declined in the

past few years, as well as the percentage of profits deducted bythe government. Thus, while deductions from profits in 1 934were estimated at 2 .3 billion rubles, a fourfold increase over1928-29, this sum constituted only five per cent of the total

revenue as against eight per cent in 1928-29 and twelve per

cent in 1929-30 . In the 1935 budget this item was further

reduced, and makes up only 2 .6 per cent of the total . A por-

tion of the profits formerly taken by the government is nowleft at the disposal of the enterprises, thus providing a furtherstimulus for increasing productivity and lowering costs .

All profits of industry form part of the unified financialplan of the U .S .S .R. and are distributed according to this plan .A definite percentage is assigned to the unified budget (or localbudget if the enterprise is local in character), another portionis set aside for purposes of vocational and technical education,part is paid by the producing organization into the fund forimproving living conditions of its employees, and the remainderis assigned to the enterprise itself for capital expansion and in-vestment .

Profits of Soviet national economy have shown considerable

FINANCE

421

increase during the past years ; they amounted to 7 .6 billionrubles in 1934 as compared with 6 .6 billion in 1932 . Duringthe period of the second Five-Year Plan they are planned tototal nearly 8o billion rubles, a fourfold increase over the firstFive-Year Plan period . During the period 1932-1937 financ-ing of all phases of national economy is planned to total over40o billion rubles . Profits will thus provide about 20 per centof the total funds necessary for the fulfillment of this program .Profits of U .S .S.R. enterprises are figured only after an allow-ance is made for depreciation of capital . Since prices are regu-lated by the government, the individual enterprise can increaseits profits only by lowering the cost of production through in-creased efficiency of operation.

Revenue derived from the general population amounted to5,994 million rubles in 1933 and 5,923 million rubles in 1 934,constituting 15 per cent of the total income of the state budgetin the former and 12 per cent in the latter year . The 1 935budget shows a further decline in receipts from this source,both absolutely and relatively, since the estimated total of 5 .8billion rubles makes up only nine per cent of the total receipts .Whereas the total budget revenue derived from the generalpopulation increased almost sixfold in the past five years (from970 million rubles in 1928-29 to 5,923 million in 1 934)income from mass loans rose from 270 million rubles to 3,320million rubles during this period, a twelvefold increase . Incomefrom direct taxation of the population rose from 523 millionrubles in 1928-29 to 2 .6 billion rubles in 1933, an increasedue to the growth of national income . For instance, the totalwage fund for workers and employees in national economy rosefrom 8 .16 billion rubles in 1928 to 34.50 billion in 1 933,a fourfold increase .

Revenue from agricultural taxes was estimated at 919 mil-lion rubles in 1934 as against 770 in 1933 and 449 million

422


in 1928-29. Although doubling in absolute amount in thelast five years, its relative weight in the budget has decreasedconsiderably, from nearly seven to less than two per cent ofthe total. The 1935 budget set the total contribution of therural population at six per cent less than in 1 934 .

The following table shows the proportion of revenues andexpenditures made up by the principal items in the unified statebudget :

Personal income taxes, which in 1928-29 amounted to 83million rubles, were set at 207 million in 1934 . In the former

1928-29 1932

1933 1934(in per cent o f total)

A. Revenue

100.0 100 .0 100.0 100 .0

i . Revenue from socialized economy 78 .7 83 .1 8s .z 84 .1a) Turnover tax 47 .3 57 . 9 57 .7 59 .7b) Special commodity fund

- 6.z 9 .6 12 .9c) Deductions from profits

8.o 4.6 z .9 3 .1d) Income of railways

16.8 8 .1 6 .1 5 .4e) Loans to socialized economy

4.2 3.7 2 .6 0.9f) Other

z.4 z.6 2 .3 2 .1

z . Revenue from general population

14.6 15 .0 14.8 13 .4a) Mass loans

4.1 7.8 7 .9 7 .3b) Taxation

7.7 5.8 6.4 5 .4c) Other

z.8 1.4 o.5 o.6

3 . Other revenues

6.7 1.9 4.0 2.5

B . Expenditures

100 .0 100 .0 100 .0 100.0

, . Financing of national economy

51.5 76 .5 70 .4 70.5a) Heavy industry and electrification 13 .3 34 .5 29 .5 24 .0b) Light industry

0.4 1 .3 z .1 2 .4c) Lumber industry

z.4 3.4 2 .7 2 .0d) Trade and food industry

3.9 8.7 8 .6 9 .6e) Agriculture

8.1 12.3 11 .0 12 .4f) Transport

19.2 12 .1 9 .5 11 .7g) Other

4.2 4.2 7 .0 8 .4

2 . Social-cultural measures

6.2 5.6 6 .5 6 .4

3 . Administration and defense

18.8 6 .7 6 .8 6 .1

4. Service on loans

4.8 3.2 3 .6 3 .65 . Funds transferred to local budgets

15.7 5 .7 7 . 2 7 . 86 . Other expenditures

3.0 2.3 5 .5 5 .6

FINANCE

423

year they constituted a little more than one per cent of therevenues and in 1934 less than one-half of one per cent .

The major part of government budget expenditures goes forthe financing of national economy . In 1934, 28 billion rubleswas so expended as compared with 3 .4 billion in 1928-29 . Inthat year it made up 51 .5 of total budget outlays and in 1 934-6o per cent. For 1935 the share of total expenditures wasset at S4 per cent. Of the disbursements for financing thenational economy in 1933, heavy industry and electrificationabsorbed 42 per cent, trade and the food industry 12 per cent,agriculture 16 per cent and transportation 13 per cent .

With the exception of the sums allotted by the unified statebudget to the local budgets, the second largest item of expendi-tures is the financing of social and cultural measures . In 1 933the sums expended for this purpose totaled 2 .3 billion rublesand in 1 934 3 .2 billion rubles, including over 2 .5 billion rublesfor education . For 1935 an increase of 49 .4 per cent is pro-vided, bringing this item to 4 .8 billion rubles . It should benoted, however, that by far the larger portion of expendituresfor social and cultural development comes from other agenciesthan the state budget, such as the social insurance funds, localbudgets, trade unions, etc . Thus, in 1932, out of 9 .4 billionrubles spent for these purposes expenditures of the unifiedbudget amounted to 1 .7 billion rubles, or 18 per cent of thetotal . This group of outlays has made up from six to sevenper cent of the budget in the past few years .

Outlays for administration and defense totaled 2 .4 billionrubles in 1933 (somewhat less than seven per cent of totalexpenditures as compared with 18.8 per cent in 1928-29) .The amount spent on national defense came to 1 .5 billionrubles, or 4.2 per cent of total budget expenditures . In 1 934it was considered necessary to increase expenditures for de-fense to a total of five billion rubles and in 1935 the allot-


ment was set at 6 .5 billion, ten per cent of the entire budgetoutlays.

Funds transferred to local budgets by the unified govern-ment budget have increased considerably in the past few years .In 1928-29 these totaled about one billion rubles, and in 1 934they were scheduled to reach 3 .7 billion. Their relative weightin budget expenditures has dropped, however, from 15 percent in 1928-1929 to less than eight per cent in 1 934 .

State LoansState loans have played an important part in the financing

of national economy. In 1928-29 proceeds from bonds soldto the general population and organizations and enterprisesconstituted 10 .9 per cent of the revenue of the unified statebudget and in 1931-16 per cent ; in 1934 they were estimat-ed to net 8.8 per cent of the total. Gross returns from thissource increased from 725 million rubles in 1928-29 to 4 .4billion rubles in 1933 (eleven per cent of all revenues) . How-ever, service on loans in the latter year (payment of interestand redemption of bonds) amounted to 1 .3 billion rubles, leav-ing net receipts from loans of 3 .1 billion rubles .

The total government internal debt on January I, 1934amounted to 14,369 .2 million rubles, as compared with 6,221million rubles on January 1, 1932 and 1,395 million onOctober 1, 1928. About sixty per cent of the state debt con-sists of bonds held by the general population ; on January I,1934 this sum amounted to 8 .7 billion rubles. The balanceof the debt is made up of bonds held by state and cooperativeorganizations and enterprises as investments . Of the totalamount of bonds held by the general population on January1, 1934, workers and employees accounted for 70 per centas compared with 65 per cent on October I, I93o. The shareof the peasantry rose from I9 to 24 per cent during this period .

FINANCE 425

Since the completion of the currency reform in 1925, stateloans of the U .S .S .R. have been used exclusively for financingthe economic development of the country, and not for currentexpenses of the government . The usual type of loan, whichis intended for mass circulation, is one in which part of thebonds are interest-bearing while the others entitle the holdersto an opportunity to win prizes drawn by lot at specified inter-vals. The relation between the amounts allocated for interestpayments and for prizes varies in different loans. Some of thepast bond issues (for instance, the lottery loans of 1926 and1929 did not pay any interest, all the payments to the hold-ers being made in the form of prizes . In any event the prin-cipal is paid in full . The state loans are issued for variousperiods, but their duration usually does not exceed 1o years.

The growth of the state debt during the past ten years,and its distribution among the various sections of the popula-tion are given in the following table

GOVERNMENT DEBT' (in millions of rubles)POPULATION

I Not including unclaimed interest and lottery prizes .

In August 1930 the first bonds were issued of the "Five-Year Plan in Four Years" loan and in subsequent years twomore issues were floated, the outstanding bonds of the threeissues totaling 5 .7 billion rubles by January 1, 1934 . The"First Year of the Second Five-Year Plan" loan, floated in1933, exceeded three billion rubles and was taken by over 40million subscribers . The "Second Year" loan, floated on April

SOCIALIZED

SECTOR

WORKERS AND

EMPLOYEES PEASANTS OTHERS TOTAL

Oct. 1, 1925 245 .6 26 .3 22 .7 72 .6 367 .2" 1928 957.2 152 .2 108 .4 150 .4 1,368.2« 1930 1,217 .5 840.5 241 .3 205.5 2,504.8

Jan . 1, 1931 1,338 . 3 991 .0 302 .3 2o6 .5 2,838 .1" 1932 2,895 .3 2,056 .4 780.0 281 .1 6,oI2 .8" 1933 4319.7 3,766 .2 1,270 .8 405 .8 9,762 .5" 1934 5484 .9 5903 .1 2,040 .1 527 .8 13955 .9

426


1 5, 1934, was subscribed to the full amount of 3 .5 billionrubles by the middle of the year . In the first drawing, held inJune, 1934, 265,200 prizes totaling 68,450,000 rubles wereallotted . The loan was issued for a term of ten years andthe interest-bearing bonds pay ten per cent . In May 1935 the"Third Year" loan of 3.5 billion rubles was announced, torun from October 1, 1935 for a period of ten years. Half ofthis issue consists of lottery bonds and half of interest-bearingbonds paying eight per cent . Between 1927 and 1935 therewere eight state loans and in the past five years more than 43million people have purchased Government bonds . Small in-ternal bond issues are also floated at times by municipalitiesand other administrative divisions.

GOVERNMENT DEBTOCT. 1, JAN . I,

JAN. I, JAN . 1,

BOND ISSUES

1928

1931(in millions

1933

1934of rubles)

A . Mass Loans1st industrialization loan 1927 202 .3 60 .5 8 .3 2 .72nd industrialization loan 1928 8 .2 139 .5 21 .4 9 .93rd industrialization loan 1929 - 815 .7 809 .9 776.3Agricultural Economy loan 1 35 . 5 41 .0 13 .9 8.oFive-Year Plan in Four loan

(ISy 2nd, 3rd issues) 428 .8 4,723 .0 5,724 .1First Year of Second Five-Year Plan loan 2,150 .9

346 .0 1,485 .5 5,576 .5 8,671 .9Total mass loansTotal mass loans (not including unclaimed inter-

336 .7 1,412 .0 5,316 .6 8,340 .4est and lottery prizes)B . Market Loans (ten issues) 257 .4 155 .7 136 .6 142 .4

Market loans (not including unclaimed inter-est and lottery prizes) 247 .0 145 .5 x26 .2 130 .6

C . Loans Held by Socialized EnterprizesGovernment internal 8% loan 1925 321 .9 370 .1 2,887 .9 3,941 .9Government internal i2 c/o loan 1927 187 .9 197 .1 180 .2 145 .4Government internal 11 ofo loan 1928 71 .0 287 .7 296 .1 296 .9Internal loan of 1929 (non-interest bearing) - 112 .4 111 .3 111 .3Internal 1o% savings bank loan - 321 .5 887 .6 1,055 .8

Total loans held by socialized enterprises 58o .8 1,288 .8 4,363 .1 5,551 .3Total loans held by socialized enterprises (not in-

573 .9 1,276 .0 4,315 .9 5,481 .3cluding unclaimed interest and lottery prizes)

D . Other Indebtedness 210.6 4 .6 3 .8 3 .6Total Government Debt 1,394 .8 2,934 . 6 10,080 .0 14,369 .2Total Government Debt (not including unclaimed

1 ,3 68 .2 2,504 .8 9,762 .5 13,955 .9interest and lottery prizes)

FINANCE

427

In addition to the loans floated within the country the SovietGovernment also issues bonds which may be purchased abroad .Payment for these bonds is made in foreign currency only,in contradistinction to internal loans which are contracted forin the currency of the U .S .S.R. Bonds sold abroad are issuedin denominations of too gold rubles (a gold ruble contains0.774234 grams of pure gold and both interest and paymentof principal are based upon a fixed quantity of gold . On Octo-ber I, 1933 a ten-million gold ruble bond issue was floatedin the United States .

The Taxation SystemA decree promulgated by the Government in September

1930 reforming the taxation system has been an importantfactor in the general reconstruction of the financial system ofthe U.S .S.R. With the elimination of private trade and theenormous growth of state industry and collectivization of agri-culture creating entirely new conditions, the old system oftaxation, modeled in the main on lines similar to those exist-ing before the war, were considered hindrances to the plan-ning and further development of the national economy . Also,it was deemed that the development of the system of directlyregulating prices of commodities had removed the necessityfor using taxation as a means of price regulation . The presentsystem of taxation includes as its main items the business turn-over tax, the single agricultural tax and the tax on individualincomes .

As noted above, the tax on business turnover is the principalsource of government income, now constituting more thanthree-quarters of the total revenue . The single turnover tax wasestablished by the tax revision of 193o and replaced more than50 separate taxes and duties, including a trade license tax,an excise tax, a stamp duty, and many other small taxes andfees paid by the manufacturing concern . The numerous taxes


to which a single commodity was subject often resulted in theprice of similar commodities varying from one establishmentto another, since the total amount of the tax (included in thepurchase price depended upon the number of stages the com-modity passed through before it reached the consumer . Thenew single tax is applied only at the point of production andat a fixed rate for various commodities. All socialized enter-prises are subject to the turnover tax with the exception ofproducers' and consumers' cooperatives, which pay instead,an income tax amounting to 20 per cent of their profits .

The system of agricultural taxation is designed to furtherthe government collectivization policy and assist the develop-ment of agriculture . With these aims in view collective farmsand farmers are subject to a lower rate of taxation than in-dividual farmers, the livestock, forage and feed crops of col-lective farms are exempt from taxation, and special exemptionsare allowed for collectives which have fulfilled their programs,amounting to as much as 25 per cent of the tax. The raisingof technical and special crops is encouraged by special tax ex-emptions for certain crops (sugar beets, cotton, rice, flax, etc .) .Collectivized farms receive the best treatment .

In the case of collective farms definite rates are fixed perhectare, the lowest tax being imposed on grain and fodderand the highest on grapes . Individual peasants are taxed on thebasis of income ; income is determined by assessing certain fixedvalues per hectare of each crop, the value varying with thedifferent republics. On the basis of this assessment of income,the peasant pays a tax ranging from 15 rubles upwards, thetax increasing progressively with the income .

The amount of the agricultural tax for 1 934 was outlinedin a decree of the Central Executive Committee dated May31 . The rate of taxation of collective farmers remained aboutthe same as for 1933 ; however, additional exemptions were

FINANCE 429

granted them for enlarging and bettering their farms and forexcellence in account and record-keeping. The tax reductionsfor fulfilling the crop quotas, etc ., are put in a fund for pre-miums to the best workers .

The entire agricultural tax goes to the local budgets-8oper cent to the district soviets and 20 per cent to the villageauthorities . The central government receives no part of thistax. In general it is levied not so much for the purpose ofraising revenue as of serving the interests of collective farmsand stimulating the cultivation of certain crops . As noted above,the total revenue from agricultural taxation amounts to lessthan two per cent of the income of the state budget .

Aside from the state agricultural tax, a general meeting ofvillage electors may impose taxes on farms, to be spent forlocal civic and economic measures . Three-quarters of the fundsso collected are turned over to the budgetary committees of thevillage and district and one-quarter remains with the villagesoviet. This tax, which was established by a decree issued inMay 1934, ranges from five rubles per farm up to i oo percent of the agricultural tax . Incomes of certain rural residentsnot engaged in farming (artisans not in co-operatives, etc) arealso taxed, the amount of the tax ranging from seven to 8orubles .

Individual income taxes in the U .S .S.R. are steeply gradu-ated while the rates vary with the class of the taxpayer . Therates for workers and employees range from o .8 per cent fortaxable incomes below ioo rubles monthly to 3 .5 per cent onincomes above 50o rubles monthly. The tax on the incomesof workers and employees is assessed and collected monthlybased on the earnings of the previous month, and is deductedfrom the wages or salaries. Workers with more than threedependents are entitled to reductions in their tax of from 25to 40 per cent . Workers and employees having incomes sepa-


rate from their wages are taxed on that income separately ;however, incomes derived by them from their own gardensor livestock are exempt from taxation .

Students on stipends, literary workers who have no copy-right agreements, "members of collegium of defenders" (law-yers) acting as consultants, etc. are taxed similarly to workers .Workers and employees earning less than 140 or 15o rublesa month (depending on the locality), students with stipendsunder 175 rubles a month, pensioners, persons serving in amilitary capacity and a number of other groups of the popula-tion are exempt from taxation, as are persons whose incomeis subject to the agricultural tax. For cooperative workers,authors, inventors, scientists, physicians, dentists, renters ofrooms, etc., there are also exemptions applying to incomes upto 1,200 rubles a year. Income from original inventions upto 6,ooo rubles a year is exempt from income tax .

Persons other than workers and employees subject to incometax are divided into three categories : 1) literary workers own-ing copyrights, scientists, artists, etc. ; 2) cooperative artisansand landworkers not employing labor, physicians and dentists(taxed on income from private practice), inventors receivingroyalties, persons with incomes from renting rooms, etc . ;3) tradesmen, artisans not in cooperatives, persons employinglabor, and others depending upon non-labor incomes . The ratesin category I range from one per cent on incomes up to 1,000rubles to about 20 per cent on incomes of 20,000 rubles and38 per cent on the excess over 20,000 rubles ; in category 2,the rates go from 2 .5 per cent on incomes up to 1,000 rublesto about 32 per cent on 24,000 rubles and 50 per cent onthe excess over 24,000 rubles ; in category 3, the rates rangefrom five per cent on incomes up to 1,000 rubles to 59 percent on incomes of 24,000 rubles and 87 per cent on the partof the income in excess of 24,000 rubles .

FINANCE 431

Compulsory Insurance

The laws of the U .S.S.R. provide for compulsory insuranceof all dwellings, industrial enterprises, crops, livestock andother farm inventory. The insurance is effected by the StateInsurance Department (Gosstrakh), which is under the super-vision of the Commissariat for Finance . The premiums arefixed by the Council of People's Commissars and vary fordifferent sections of the country . A graduated scale of premiumsis also established for collectives and individual farmers . In-dustrial and business buildings and dwellings in cities are in-sured against losses through fire . Farm buildings, crops, etc.,are insured against fire, flood, frost, drought and hail andthere is a special type of insurance for livestock .

A new agricultural insurance law, designed primarily toencourage livestock raising and increase the sown area, wasannounced on July 20, 1934 . The law provides for a generallowering of insurance premiums (seven per cent on the aver-age), for increasing the percentage of premiums devoted tofire prevention from 10 to 15 per cent, and contains specialprovisions designed to assist collective farms to raise cattle,horses, sheep, etc . The young of animals are insured free ofcharge . Rates for livestock on collectives range from 2 .35rubles per 10o rubles for cattle to 6 .25 rubles for swine (therates for individual farmers are somewhat higher) .

Premiums for insurance of sown area are charged accordingto the program set for the collective, any land sown in excessof the plan being insured free of charge . Premiums for crooinsurance vary according to the type of insurances-from I .15per 10o rubles for damage resulting from hail or fire, to 2 .4rubles for frost damage . Special industrial crops are insuredfor premiums ranging from 2.3 rubles per 10o for cotton to5 .6 for sesame . Payments to insured for livestock range from


4o rubles for a goat to 145 for a horse ; for crops, from 50rubles per hectare for grain to 2,820 rubles for hops .

Gosstrakh also has a monopoly of marine insurance of im-ports into and exports from the U .S .S.R. It has delegatedpart of this business to other companies abroad . In particular,the Black Sea and Baltic General Insurance Co ., Ltd., inLondon, handles the marine insurance of Soviet exports andimports to and from England and certain other countries .

Xv.

LABOR CONDITIONS AND SOCIAL WELFARE

THE Labor Code, which went into effect November 15,1922, establishes the legal status of labor in the U.S.S.R. Itsprovisions, covering wages, hours, and the whole field of laborconditions, constitute the basis of all labor and welfare legisla-tion. All forms of labor without exception-industrial, agricul-tural, domestic-are subject to the code's provisions, which arebinding on every individual, organization, or institution employ-ing labor . One of the code's fundamental requirements is thatall labor agreements and contracts must provide for conditionsat least as good as those called for by the code itself ; otherwisethey are void . Supervision over the execution of the code andof subsequent labor legislation and regulation of all mattersaffecting labor, including social insurance, labor protection,etc., constituted, until recently, the functions of the Commis-sariat for Labor, which co-operated closely with the All-UnionCentral Council of Trade Unions. In June, 1933, the latterbody took over the functions of the Commissariat for Labor,which was thereafter dissolved . The basic aim of labor legisla-tion has been to improve working conditions and raise livingstandards.

The rapid growth of industry and the large volume of newconstruction during the first Five-Year Plan resulted in anever greater demand for new workers, both skilled and un-skilled . This increased by the autumn of 1930 to a point wherethe Government announced that unemployment had been

433


eliminated. Other steps affecting working and living conditionstaken during the period include : doubling of average

annual money wages ; increase in the average number of em-

ployed persons per family ; extension of the 7-hour day to

embrace over 8o per cent of the industrial workers ; quadrup-

ling of social insurance funds ; decline in industrial accidents

and sickness ; increase of 40 per cent in labor productivity ; 27million square meters of new housing space created ; 14.8million workers served by public catering establishments (res-

taurants and kitchen-factories) . Further progress along theselines was recorded in 1 933-1 934-

Number o f WorkersOne of the features of the labor situation in the

U.S.S.R. has been the considerable rise in the number of per-sons employed . During the first Five-Year Plan the totalnumber of wage-earners almost doubled, rising from 11 .6

million in 1928 to 22 .9 million in 1932. The number of in-dustrial workers increased from 3 .5 to 6.8 million during the

same time . The Five-Year Plan schedules for 1 932-33-1 5 .8and 4.6 million, respectively-were exceeded by nearly 50 percent in each case. The growth in the number of workers inthe principal branches of the national economy and the programfor the second Five-Year Plan are shown in the table below :

YEARLY AVERAGE (in thousands)1928 1930 1932 1933 1937

Total Number of Wage Earnersin National Economy 11,599 14,531 22,943 22,301

(program)

28,909Large-scale Industry 3,096 4,264 6,303 6,zzz 8,130Construction 723 1,623 3,126 2,344 3,425Transportation 1,270 1,499 2,222 7,235 2,776

Railway 971 1,084- 1,527 1,474 1,666Water 104 13Z 195 189 230Other 195 283 500 573 88o

Communications 95 053 224 z64 336Trade 532 815 1,411 1,357 2,285Public Catering 55 181 515 547 86o

LABOR CONDITIONS AND SOCIAL WELFARE 435

During the four years of 1928-1932 a total of 12 .5 millionnew workers were drawn into employment in the variousbranches of the national economy. This figure includes 1 .3

million workers who took the place of deceased or incapaci-tated workers and workers on prolonged leave for courses ofstudy . According to preliminary estimates this increase wasmade up from the following elements : 8.5 million came fromthe peasantry and about 4 million from the urban population .The latter group included 1 .7 million youths, about 500,000graduates of colleges, universities and technical schools, about1 .4 million women previously not engaged in productive labor,and approximately 40o,ooo artisans .

Approximately half of the new personnel went in to in-dustry and construction, the number of industrial worker;doubling and the number of construction workers quadrup-ling. The industrialization of new, outlying districts, such asCentral Asia and the Ural-Kuznetzk district, led to a largerrate of increase in the number of workers in these regions thanin the old industrial districts of central European Russia .

In 1933, as a result of the completion of some of the largeconstruction projects, the rationalization of production methodsand the cutting down of office and administrative personnel,the number of wage earners was reduced by over 6oo,ooo, de-spite the considerable development of the national economy .This process was accompanied by a return of many former

YEARLY AVERAGE (in thousands)1928 1930 1932 1933 1937

Finance 95 101 1z8 123(program)

Institutions z,36z 2,857 3,912 3,932 4,678Educational 789 921 1,347 1,470 2,065Health 399 477 647 696 1,020Government, Cultural, etc . 1,174 1,469 1,918 1,766 1,593

Agriculture 1,676 1,552 2,858 2,999 3,575Forestry 331 611 1,140 1,194 1,360Fishing 30 45 99 III 135

436


peasants to their villages . Preliminary figures for 1934 give a

total of 23 .2 million workers and employees, only 1 .3 per cent

more than in 1932. The number in large-scale industry totaled6,528,000, and practically all other branches recorded corre-

sponding increases .

The number of women engaged in the various branches ofthe national economy more than doubled during the first Five-Year Plan period, rising from 2.5 million in 1928 to 6,819,-

000 on January 1, ¶933 . Of this total 2,935,000 were em-

ployed in large-scale industry, construction and transportation,556,000 in agriculture, 796,000 in education, 476,000 inhealth protection and 798,000 in public feeding and trade . Inhealth work women made up 71 per cent and in education 55

per cent of the total number of wage earners. Women now

make up about a third of the total number of all persons em-ployed. They have been drawn into skilled industrial work ona large scale . Thus, the number of women workers in

the metal trades rose from 8 .3 per hundred workers ethployed

on Jan . I, 1929 to 22.3 per hundred on Jan . 1, 1934 atpower plants, from 2 .8 per hundred to 16 .9 per hundred ; in

the chemical industries from 34 .0 to 38 .9 and in mining from4.2 to 17.4 per hundred.

During the second Five-Year Plan period the number ofwage-earners is scheduled to record a further increase of 21)

per cent, reaching 29 .6 million by 1937 . The number of in-dustrial workers is to show a gain of 40 per cent.

In contrast to the large number of new workers drawn fromthe peasantry during the first Five-Year Plan (8 .5 million),only 32 per cent of new labor will come directly from the vil-lage, while 36 per cent will be furnished by the lower schools,colleges and technical schools, as against only four per cent in1928-1932. The balance is to be made up of women (mem-bers of families of workers and employees) entering industry


for the first time, in all 1 .6 million, and office help released byrationalization of administrative forces . The number of women

in industry is scheduled to rise to i o.1 million, 33 .9 per cent of

all persons employed in the national economy, as compared with

6.8 million in 1932 . Of the total, 3 .6 million will be employed

in industry, 1 .2 million in education, 776,000 in medical serv-

ice and 823,000 in agriculture .

Trade UnionsThe great majority of workers in the Soviet Union-i9

out of 23 million in 1934-are members of trade unions .These unions are organized on an industrial rather than acraft basis and number at present 154 . The All-Union Council

of Trade Unions is elected by the All-Union Congress ofTrade Unions, which meets once every two years . Membership

in the unions is voluntary ; officers are elected by the membersand are directly responsible to them . Dues, formerly two percent of wages, were reduced in September, 1933, to one percent .

Among the forms of workers' participation in the operation

and development of industry are the numerous inventions andsuggestions for increasing efficiency made by employees . Everyenterprise has a special bureau charged with the duty of seeingthat all proposals are given careful consideration and acted onone way or the other. Inventions and proposals by workers at-tained an impressive volume during the past few years of in-tensive economic development and effected savings estimatedat many hundreds of millions of rubles . During the years from1930 to 1932 alone, more than 1,700,000 inventions andrationalization proposals were made by workers in industry andagriculture. The All-Union Society of Inventors numberedabout 800,ooo members in 1933, having increased its member-ship eightfold within a period of three years .

The unions draw up collective agreements with the em-


ployers, which now are practically all government or co-opera-tive organizations, based on the regulations of the labor codeand see to it that the provisions of the labor code and the collec-tive agreements are adhered to ; in case of labor disputes theyrepresent the employees on arbitration committees . They ap-point labor inspectors ; organize, through their factory commit-tees, production conferences to consider problems of rationaliza-tion and labor productivity ; and carry on extensive cultural andeducational activities .

Previous to September, 1934, there had been only 47 unions,but the rapid growth of trade union membership necessitated areorganization involving the division of large unions intosmaller units. In some cases the division was made on a regionalbasis and in others the unions embracing workers in an entirebranch of national economy were divided into sub-branches ofthe same industry. Thus, the Educational Workers Union wasdivided into eight separate organizations for kindergartenworkers, university and scientific workers, etc .

A decree of June 2 3, 1933, entrusted the trade unionswith the functions of the Commissariat for Labor . Allmatters concerning labor, labor legislation, labor protection andsocial insurance are now regulated and supervised by the tradeunions .

Hours and WagesThe large increase in the number of workers during the

period of the first Five-Year Plan was the result, on the onehand, of the putting into operation of new plants and the ex-pansion of old ones, and, on the other, of the introduction ofmultiple shifts and the shortening of the working-day . Thegovernment has adopted in most enterprises, instead of aseven-day week, the six-day week. Under this system the en-terprise is closed each sixth day-the 6th, i 2th, i 8th, 24thand 3oth of the month .


At its inception the Soviet regime established the eight-hourday as a maximum for the adult population and the six-hourday for young people . Since the introduction of the seven-hourday in October, 1927, it has been extended gradually and bythe end of 1933 embraced most of the industrial workers . Inhazardous and underground work and for young workers fromsixteen to eighteen years of age a six-hour day has been estab-lished, and for some groups of workers the working day hasbeen shortened to five or four hours . No children under sixteenmay be employed except in certain cases when work is requiredin connection with their training . In such cases children fromfourteen to sixteen may be employed for not over four hours aday .

Wages in all branches of the national economy have risensteadily . Average annual wages in 1932 reached 1,427 rubles,double the 1928 level and eight times the 1922-23 figure (18orubles) . The total wage fund amounted to 32 .7 billion rubles,four times the 1928 figure and double the Five-Year Planschedule for 1932-33 . In 1934 the wage fund amounted to41 .6 billion rubles while average annual wages rose to 1,791rubles, an increase of 14 per cent over 1933 and of 25 .5 percent over 1932 . The growth in wages in the various branchesof the national economy is set forth in the table below :

AVERAGE ANNUAL WAGES OF WORKERS1928 1930

193Z 1933 1934(in rubles) (preliminary)

National Economy as a whole 703 936 1,427 1,571 1,791Large-scale Industry 870 1,035 1,466 1,666 1,902Construction 996 1,082 1,509 1,617 1,994Transportation 86, 1,064 1,506 1 ,697 1,978

Railway 859 1,030 1,496 1,636 1 ,925Water 899 ,,,62 1,509 1,711 1,983Other 846 1,147 1,539 1,846 2,100

Communications 776 760 1,333 1,453 1,56oTrade 783 893 1,351 1,362 1,537Public Catering 623 778 1,059 1,078 1,227Institutions 783 1,047 1,878 1,997 2,121


AVERAGE ANNUAL WAGES OF WORKERS

The greatest rate of increase in wages, according to govern-ment statistics, is shown in agriculture, forestry and fishing,where wages almost quadrupled during the period from 1928to 1934 . The next largest increase (185 per cent) was thatrecorded by wages of educational workers, whose wages atthe beginning of the Five-Year Plan period were below thegeneral level. Wages of railway workers rose by 124 per centand of workers in large-scale industry-118 per cent . Averagemonthly wages of industrial workers in 1933 amounted to127 .17 rubles, as compared with 115 .42 rubles in 1932 and70.24 rubles in 1928 . In the first nine months of 1934, theaverage came to 142 .37 rubles. The wage increases in differentbranches of industry varied, being largest in the basic industries .Wages of coal miners more than doubled from 1928 to 1 933,and those of steel workers increased by go per cent . The fol-lowing table gives the growth in average monthly wages forthe workers in some of the principal branches of industry (notincluding office or technical personnel)

1928 1930 1932 1933 1934(in rubles) (preliminary)

Educational 678 978 1,633 1,847 1,930Health 638 799 1,248 1,425 1,531Government, Cultural, Social 903 1,170 1,943 2,349 2 .557

Agriculture 557 866 1,048 1,215Forestry 497 1,094 1,130 1,257Fishing 8,6 889 1,319 1,5oz I,8o8

1928 1930

1932 1933

All Large-scale Industry 70.24(in rubles)

126 .5882 .59 115 .42Coal 63 .27 76.47 122 .08 133.12Iron and Steel 75 .61 88 .30 132 .24 143.41Machine Building 92.94 108 .36 142 .93 152 .37Chemical 82 .09 88 .o6 1z2 .62 130.03Cotton Textile 59 .89 64 .29 85 .89 103 .67Leather and Shoe 86 .72 88 .78 112.11 103.01Food 68 .06 74.71 96 .18 120.47


By 1937 the total wage fund is scheduled to reach 50.7billion rubles, a growth of 55 per cent over 1932 ; in large-scale industry a gain of 64 per cent is scheduled . Real wagesare scheduled to double during the five-year period, whileaverage monthly wages of workers in large-scale industry are

expected to rise to 144 .66 rubles, a gain of 25 per cent .

The labor code grants employees certain benefits in additionto the wages they receive . A system of social insurance pro-vides for care of their health, payments in cases of disabilityand for pensions . Employees are entitled to vacations of fromtwo weeks to one month with full salary or wages . Houserentals are based on the amount of wages received ; the averagerent paid does not exceed 1o per cent and frequently amountsto from 4 to 8 per cent of the total expenditures of a family .

The system of piece work and graduated wage scales, whichhas been in practice since the institution of the new economic

policy in 1921, now embraces all the employees in the moreimportant industries . Under this system skilled workers andworkers exceeding the established production norm receive con-siderably higher wages than the average . This system is de-signed to encourage the workers to increase their skill, to

provide incentive to the technical and engineering staffs, andto raise labor productivity. Compared with the prewar periodthe daily output per worker in large-scale industry is reportedto have doubled and in 1933 was 63 per cent above the 1928level. The hourly output per worker in 1932 was reportedto be nearly three times that in 1913 and more than 6o percent in excess of the 1928 figure . In heavy industry the valueof output per worker in 1934 was 8,469 rubles .

One of the most serious obstacles to the development oflabor productivity has been an excessively high turnover . Theshortage of labor created by the program of intensive industrialdevelopment and the consequent ease with which jobs could

442


be obtained has been given as one of the causes of this condi-tion. Other factors were the unsatisfactory food and livingconditions at some of the enterprises and the traditional migra-tion to the farms during the sowing and harvesting seasons ofthose workers still retaining their contacts with the village .An improvement in the standard of living and establishmentof systems of bonuses and premiums for long continued serviceare reported to have caused a decline in the turnover of labor .For industry as a whole the number of workers quitting theiremployment each month averaged 6 .2 per cent of the totalnumber of workers enrolled in the first nine months of 1 934as compared with 7 .9 per cent in the corresponding period of1933 and 12 .7 per cent in 1930 . For the coal industry thecorresponding percentages were 6 .o, 8.o and 24 .6. Furtherreduction of the still abnormally high turnover is one of themost difficult problems facing the industries .

Formerly absenteeism constituted a serious difficulty inindustry and construction, but this has been greatly reduced as aresult of the introduction of penalties . The number ofdays lost through absences without valid reason by industrialworkers was thus cut down from an average of 5 .96 in 1932to 0.93 in 1933 and 0.55 in the first nine months of 1 934 .

One of the central problems of the second Five-Year Planis set forth as the raising of labor productivity. The programprovides for an increase of 63 per cent over 1932 in large-scaleindustry, 43 per cent in railway transport, 86 per cent in watertransport, and 75 per cent on construction work .

Social InsuranceThe social insurance system is based entirely on contribu-

tions from the state and from organizations which employ labor,no contributions whatever being paid by the insured workers .The number of workers covered by the system increased from9,674,000 in 1927-28 to 21,700,000 in 1 933, 95 per cent of


the total number of workers. The budget for social insuranceduring this period grew from 1 .05 billion to 4 .40 billion rubles,while the annual expenditures per insured person rose from108 .5 to 182 .3 rubles. The income of the social insurancefund in 1933 amounted to 4.61 billion rubles, and to 5 .39billion rubles in 1934 . Previously administered by the Commis-sariat for Labor with the collaboration of the trade unions, thisfund is now handled directly by the trade unions .

The growth in social insurance expenditures, by principalitems, has been as follows :

1928-29

1932

1933

1934

I Amount scheduled in program for year.

According to preliminary estimates expenditures on pensionsin 1934 totaled 825 million rubles; 987 million rubles werespent on temporary disability benefits, feeding of new-borninfants and other children's services, while more than 1 .4billion rubles were expended on housing and on students'stipends .

The expenditures for housing, medical care, etc ., are in addi-tion to the regular government appropriations for these pur-

(in million rubles)Total Budget 1,238 .9 4,400 .0 4,607 .0 5,392 .0

Temporary DisabilityBenefits 297 .7 773 .5

1 1,462 .3 1,514.2Pensions 263 .4 470.7Unemployment Benefits 136 .4Medical Care and Hos-

pital Construction 255 .6 821 .0 953 .6 1,189 .0Prophylactic Measures

(Chiefly Sanitariumand Rest HomeCare) 39 .1 188 .2 208 .3 284 .3

Special Dietetic Treat-ment 33 .0 48 .2 53 .0

Housing for Workers 123 .3 710 .0 622 .6 696 .0 1Children's Institutions 153 .0 z6, .8 327 .0 1Student Stipends 508 .2 649 .5 750 .0 1

444


poses. Unemployment benefits, which made up i i per cent ofthe social insurance budget in 1928, were not considered neces-sary after 193o, and the sums formerly so expended weredirected to other benefits, including some not previously given .Among the new social insurance services are : special dietetictreatment, including over-night rest homes for persons whosecondition is not such as to necessitate their giving up work butwho require special diet and treatment ; milk stations andcamps for children ; student stipends, etc.

All wage-earners in the state and cooperative enterprises,and in private enterprises or domestic service also, are en-titled to social insurance benefits. Temporary disability benefitscover sickness, accidents, care of ill members of the family, andmaternity. Woman workers receive a vacation of 16 weeksfor factory employees and 12 weeks for office workers for theperiod before and after childbirth, free hospital care and alump sum for the layette . Full wages are paid in all cases oftemporary disability to persons employed in industrial plants,on construction jobs, in transportation and communication serv-ices, on state farms or machine tractor stations, provided theyhave been wage-earners for three years and for no less thantwo years in the given enterprise . For others smaller paymentsare provided.

Pensions are provided for those permanently disabled, bydisease or accident, for the aged, for members of families whohave lost their main source of support and for long record ofwork. The amount of the pension for permanent disability isdetermined by the degree of disability, previous record of em-ployment, and the industry in which the person involved wasemployed prior to becoming an applicant for pension, the rateranging from 40 to 10o per cent of the former wage . Thepension is highest for workers employed in the basic industries,in unhealthy occupations, and in underground work . Old-age


pensions are paid to all workers attaining the age of 6o (55for women, and 50 for those engaged in unhealthy or under-ground work), regardless of whether or not they have lost theirability to work, who have worked for hire for not less than 25years (20 years for women) . The rates range from 50 to 6oper cent of the former wage .

Large sums are invested in teaching new trades to disabledworkers capable of doing light work and in creating facilities fortheir employment . Such training embraced 6oo,ooo people inthe five years 1929-1933, 200,000 in 1933 alone . There hasalso been created a network of invalids' cooperatives which in1934 included 125,000 members working in 6,ooo producingenterprises and 12,000 trading points . Invalids and aged per-sons incapable of work and having no family to care for themare put in special homes .

All wage-earners and their families are entitled to freemedical care . The sums invested in such care by the socialinsurance organization now amount to over 4o per cent of thetotal appropriations for this purpose . The aim of the social in-surance organization in this field is to secure the best medicalservice for the insured and their families, including regulardispensary and hospital service and such special aid as X-ray,electric treatment, artificial limbs, etc . In order to make themedical service more readily available for the insured workers,health stations and dispensaries are established at the factoriesand specialists visit the workers in their homes . The numberof health stations directly serving the workers of large fac-tories and mines rose from 1,942 in 1928 to 6,811 in 1 933and 7,200 in 1 934. By 1937 the number of such stations isscheduled to reach 9,700.

The social insurance organizations do much to provide theinsured with rest home, sanatorium and health resort care .Workers employed in the basic industries have received a larger


percentage of places than those in other industries . Thus, in1932, when an average of 64 out of each 1,ooo insured weresent to rest homes and 7 .4 out of 1,ooo to sanatoria and healthresorts, the average for the coal industry was 20o and 22,respectively, for the metallurgical industry 175 and 40, andfor the chemical industry 155 and 18 . About 1 .4 million per-sons availed themselves in 1934 of care at rest homes, sanatoriaand health resorts at the expense of the social insurance fund,nearly three times the number so served in 1928 (511,0oo) .

Social insurance appropriations for special services forwomen and children have shown particularly rapid growth .Appropriations for such services amounted to more than 260million rubles in 1933 . Appropriations for children in 1 933included day nurseries, 83.5 million rubles ; kindergarten andplaygrounds, 51 .9 million rubles ; feeding school children, 29million rubles ; children's sanatoria and summer camps, 6 .9million rubles ; children's homes, 17.8 million rubles ; careand feeding of new-born infants 72.5 million rubles . Thesocial insurance budget is scheduled to increase by almost 6oper cent during the period of the second Five-Year Plan,amounting to more than seven billion rubles in 1937-

Labor Protection

Since the abolition of the People's Commissariat for Laborin 1933 the trade unions have assumed complete control ofmatters connected with labor protection as well as of socialinsurance. The labor inspectors, who numbered about 7,000in 1934, are vested with wide powers . They have the right toinspect any enterprise at any time of day or night and torequire the management of such enterprise to submit allnecessary information. Instructions issued by a laborinspector with reference to remedying any conditions inviolation of the Labor Code or of the collective agreement


concerning labor protection are mandatory for the manage-ment. No enterprise or section of an enterprise may startoperations or move into new premises without the sanction ofthe labor inspector. With the reconstruction of agriculturelabor inspection has extended its scope to include agriculturalworkers (on state and collective farms, at machine-tractorand experimental stations, etc .) .

In addition to the labor inspectors each enterprise must ap-point a competent person to act as director of safety techniqueand industrial hygiene, such director supervising the installa-tion and maintenance of all necessary safety measures . Eachfactory or local trade union committee appoints a special com-mittee to check up on the execution of the labor protectionregulations . The employees also submit suggestions andinventions bearing on labor protection and safety measures .In 1931 workers in the machine-building industry sub-mitted 18,630 such suggestions, coal miners 4,500, etc. Topopularize the idea of labor protection and safety technique,museums, lectures and traveling exhibits have been organizedand many posters and popular pamphlets issued . New workersreceive individual and group instruction in safety measuresand industrial hygiene . A network of schools and correspond-ence courses has been set up to train specialists in this field .There are now 20 scientific-research institutes, employing morethan 2,000 scientific workers, and numerous factory laborato-ries engaged in the study of the problems of labor protection .

Appropriations for labor protection increased from 65 mil-lion rubles in 1928-29 to 170 million rubles in 1932. Thisdoes not include the large investments for safety devices innewly built plants .

As a result of the improvements in the sanitary and safetyconditions of old plants and the attention devoted to suchmatters in the new plants, illness and industrial accidents de-

448


clined sharply, according to official statistics . By 1934 thedecline in industrial accidents as compared with 1g3o amountedto 39.9 per cent in the coal industry, 45 .2 per cent in themachine-building industry, 43 .7 per cent in the metallurgicalindustry, 37 .6 per cent in the textile industry and 41 .4 percent in the mining industries . In 1933 the number of casesof industrial accidents of all kinds per 1,000 fully employedworkers totaled 292 in the coal industry as compared with 465in 1928 ; for the metallurgical industry the respective figureswere 198 and 322 ; for machine-building-169 and 320, andfor the textile industry 48 and 74. During the five-year periodending in 1937 a drop of more than 3o per cent is expected .

Occupational poisoning in the three-year period 1929-1932declined from 10.9 to 2 .9 cases per i,ooo employed in thechemical industry ; from 1.8 to o .8 per 1,000 in the metal-working industry. Particular attention has been paid to theproblem of eliminating poisons in production . The manfuactureand use of white lead has been practically discontinued .Mechanization and hermetic sealing of injurious processes isbeing rapidly introduced. Progress is reported to have beenmade in the matter of industrial ventilation and air condition-ing. Where necessary, special protective clothing and suppliesare provided free of charge . During the period from 1928 to1933 the number of cases of temporary disability due to illnessdeclined by 40 per cent in the coal industry, by 25 per centin the metallurgical industry, 23 per cent in the textile in-dustry, etc .

HEALTH AND VITAL STATISTICS

The first efforts of the Commissariat for Public Health,organized in July, 1918, during the civil war were neces-sarily centered on combating epidemics, while a hygienic cam-paign was carried on among the peasants and urban dwellers .


However, at this time there was also laid the foundation fora network of new institutions-public dispensaries, maternaland infant clinics, etc. With the conclusion of the civil warthe public health service developed at a faster pace, recordinggrowth particularly during the period of the first Five-YearPlan .

Expenditures for health protection and medical care fromall sources totaled 2 .9 billion rubles in 1934, more than seven-teen times the 1913 figure (128 .5 million rubles) and threeand one-half times the 1928 amount (622 million rubles) .The growth of accommodations for the care of the sick up to1932 is set forth in the following table :

2 Including beds In receiving wards and maternity institutions .

1913 1930 1932A. Medical Personnel

19,785 68,516 76,300t . PhysiciansHealth officers 472 2,722 5,819

2 . Nurses and Staff 37,476 123,549 -

B. Hospitals6,910 10,073Number

Number of beds 175,634 328,892 405,8001 . General Hospitals

Number, total 4,105 5,432 -In towns 1,104 1,908 -In rural districts 3,001 3,524 -

Number of beds, total 127,157 243,636 349,298 aIn towns 82,399 165,319 234322 2In rural districts 44,758 78,317 114976 a

2. Maternity Homes and MaternityHospital Wards

Number 856 3,637Number of beds 6,824 31,297

3 . Railway Hospitals (inc. MaternityWards)

Number - 292 393Number of Beds - 14,613 18,630

C . Out-patient Institutions (regularphysician's attendance)

1 . Polyclinics in TownsNumber 1,166 3,917 -Visits per year (thous.) 33,252 210,158 393684

450


$ 1917.

The number of hospital beds rose from 329,000 in 1930to 470,000 in 1934. During the first Five-Year Plan periodthe number of hospital beds in cities increased by 58 percent and in the rural districts by 9o per cent . New equip-ment and new departments have been added to old hospitals,and entirely new modern hospitals have been built . The largesthospital in the Union is now under construction at Kharkov .It will have beds for 2,500 patients . Two sections were openedtoward the end of 1933, and the structure is to be completedby the end of 1936 . The number of hospital beds per 1,000

population in cities totaled 5 .50 in 1933 as compared with3 .61 in 1913 ; in villages the corresponding figures were 1 .38and 0.43 . The number of health stations in enterprises increasedfrom 2,966 in 1930 to 7,200 in 1 934 .

A large network of tuberculosis dispensaries has been set upin the past several years . By 1933 there were 595 such dis-pensaries in the R .S.F.S.R. and the Ukraine as well as many inthe other federated republics . In the R.S.F.S.R. the numberof beds in institutions for tubercular patients totaled 40,700 in1934 as compared with about 300 in 1918 . There are 20 scien-tific research institutes and 3,000 specialists and nurses engagedin this field. The death rate from tuberculosis is reported tohave declined 40 to 50 per cent as compared with 1913 .

1913 1930 19322 . Polyclinics in Rural Districts

Number 4,367 8,350 -Visits per year (thous .) 55,200 133,411 -

3. Tuberculosis Stations andDispensaries

Number 43 554 -Visits per year (thous .) 149 .8 7,385 . 4 -

4. Health Stations (at factories,mines, etc .) 487 3 2,966 5,674

D . Rural Medical Districts1 . Number 3,226 6,922 -2. Rural Population per District 36,300 12,800 11,360


Growth has been recorded by out-patient institutions withattending doctors . Visits at city polyclinics totaled 393 .7 mil-lion in 1932, nearly twelve times the 1913 figure . The poly-clinic aims to look for and rectify the causes of the patient'sillness at their root, viz ., the conditions under which he livesand works . To this end it sends doctors and nurses to visit thepatient at home, obtains reports from the health station at thefactory where he is employed, and co-operates with otherorganizations providing therapeutic and prophylactic treatment .In 1934 there were 48,400 such clinics in cities and 12,8oo inthe rural districts .

Not only are the city dwellers provided with an extensivenetwork of hospitals, clinics, dispensaries, health stations, etc .,but such institutions are rapidly being introduced in rural sec-tions as well . In prewar days over half of the rural medicaldistricts were served only by "feldshers" a instead of by fullyqualified doctors. Even the districts served by doctors neverhad the services of a specialist ; they had only one general prac-titioner. Now the majority of the rural medical districts havetwo and a considerable number three or more doctors . Publichealth institutions have made their appearance in the villageswhich in prewar days were unknown-tubercular, venereal,maternity and infant clinics, etc. The organization of largestate and collective farms, concentrating the village populationinto larger centers, has made possible a new medical system inthe rural districts : hospitals, polyclinics, motor ambulances,motor or horse-drawn first-aid stations and nurseries to servethe peasants in the fields, etc . Moreover, due to the greaterease and cheapness of transportation, the rural population isnow able to take much more advantage of the services ofspecialists at the medical centers in the towns . About one-fifthof the beds in town hospitals are occupied by peasants .

' Medical workers with lower qualifications than those required for regular physicians,

452


The number of doctors in 1933 totaled 80,900, overfour times as many as in 1913 . Their ranks are being supple-mented from about 150 medical colleges, and special measureshave been taken to assist practicing doctors to raise their quali-fications. Scientific and practical research institutes have beenopened in every section of the country, to the number of 300 .

On September 3, 1934, a decree was issued raising the min-imum training requirements for medical personnel . A minimumfive-year course of training is specified for therapeutic, surgi-cal, and obstetrical-gynecological branches of medicine . Train-ing for further specialization may be obtained at hospitals,clinics, sanatoria, etc. The decree sets the number of studentsto be admitted to medical institutes and colleges at 33,500 in1937 as compared with 15,61o in 1934 . Provision is likewisemade for rural physicians to attend courses at specified intervalsin order to permit them to keep informed of the latest develop-ments in medicine .

During the second Five-Year Plan period the number ofhospital beds in towns is scheduled to increase by 44 per cent,in villages by 98 per cent . Total expenditures for health,workers' rest and physical culture during the five-year periodare set at 19.6 billion rubles, as compared with 5 .4 billion inthe first Five-Year Plan period. The number of doctors isexpected to increase from 76,300 in 1932 to 97,000 in 1937,a gain of 27 per cent.

The most important health project is the building in Moscowof a new research center for the reorganized All-Union In-stitute of Experimental Medicine . This will have about 8,500rooms for laboratories, wards, clinics, etc ., and a staff of about3,500 persons. The institute will provide facilities for mak-ing a complete study of the human body and its functions andfor seeking out new methods of investigation, prophylaxisand treatment, incorporating the latest discoveries in the fieldof biology, chemistry, physics and affiliated sciences . It is


planned to establish branches of this institute in various othercities of the Union, where research will be conducted onhealth problems under different climatic conditions .

Another important project will be the construction in Mos-cow of an All-Union Institute of Contagious Diseases, whichwill combine scientific research with the training of specialistsin this field .

Maternity and Infant Protection

In the field of maternity and infant protection the SovietUnion has made great progress. At present in the towns 65per cent, and in the larger industrial centers from go to iooper, cent, of the births take place in special maternity homesor in the maternity wards of hospitals . In villages and remotedistricts assistance is provided by obstetrical centers and byexperienced traveling midwives. An extensive network of pre-and post-natal clinics has been set up, now numbering severalthousand and visited by millions of women annually. They mayexist as independent institutions or form a part of large dis-pensaries and polyclinics .

Another type of institution widely developed in recent yearsis the . creche, or day nursery, where while the mother is atwork in field, factory or office her children are given trainedcare at low fees . Practically every factory and industrial planthas its permanent creche, while the mothers on state and col-lective farms are served primarily by seasonal creches . Thelatter accommodated five million children in 1933 . On largestate and collective farms, in addition to a central stationarycreche, there are a number of traveling field creches, horse-or tractor-drawn, to accommodate nursing mothers at work ata distance from their homes or the central creche. On statefarms the network of permanent creches has recently recordedconsiderable growth . The children, both in rural and urban

454


creches, usually remain from early morning till evening, whenthe mothers take them to their respective homes . The numberof places in permanent creches in cities totaled 347,000 in1934, and in villages-468,000 . In 1928 the respective num-ber was 52,000 and 7,000 .

Extensive expansion of the network of creches is scheduledduring the second Five-Year Plan. The number of placesfor children in towns is to increase by 156 per cent (from273,800 to 700,000 and in villages by 129 per cent (from350,000 to 900,000 at permanent and from 3 .9 million to 9million at seasonal creches . Among other special types of aidfor mothers and children are : day and twenty-four hour crechesand kindergartens attached to rest homes, health resorts andcity parks, so that mothers may have adequate opportunity forrest and recreation on free days or during vacation periods ;special waiting-rooms for mothers with children at railwaystations (at present 120 large stations have such waiting-rooms) .

Physical Culture and SportsIn the Soviet Union stress is now being laid on the develop

ment of physical culture and sports as a means of fosteringthe health of the people . The number of those taking part inregularly organized physical culture and sport clubs has mount-ed from 8oo,ooo in 1928 to 8,200,000 in 1934, or about 8oout of every thousand inhabitants between the ages of 15 and45 . The physical culturists are encouraged to develop them-selves in an all-around manner . Minimum norms have beenset in 13 different branches of sport running, jumping, gym-nastics, skiing, swimming, rowing, etc .-and in first aid andtheoretical knowledge of hygiene and sanitation . By 1933,1,700,000 young men and women had passed these tests .

By the end of 1932 the Soviet Union had 4,000 stadiumsand sport fields, 2,000 gymnasiums, 300 skiing grounds, etc .


To train physical culture teachers and athletic coaches therehave been organized over 2o special physical culture secondaryschools, and five physical culture institutes . This is in addi-tion to physical culture courses and departments in medicaland pedagogical colleges . Physical culture is obligatory in allschools-lower, secondary and higher . Many industrial plantshave introduced a daily period of io to i5 minutes of gym-nastics during working hours. In 1933 the physical culturepersonnel totaled 16,300, of whom about 3,600 were speciallytrained .

The death toll from tuberculosis, malaria, smallpox, venerealdiseases, etc ., has been reduced, and both general and infantmortality have shown a decline. In Moscow in 1913 the tuber-culosis death rate was 226 per 100,000 ; in 1933 the rate haddropped to 116 per 1 oo,ooo. The incidence per 1,000 popu-lation in the U .S .S .R . of smallpox fell from o .9o in 1927 to0.37 in 1929 ; of typhus, from 2 .8 to 2.0 ; of dysentery from18 .1 to io.8 ; malaria, from 249 .9 to 183.0. The numberof cases of venereal disease registered dropped from 958,000in 1927 to 878,000 in 1929 . While in 1913 the number ofregistered cases of venereal disease in Moscow was 388 .7 per10,000 population, by 1934 the number had been reduced to75 per 10,000 . For the U.S.S.R. as a whole the figures arerespectively 136 .7 in 1913 and 30.4 in 1932 . The system ofregistration is now said to be more complete than before thewar, so the actual decrease probably is even greater .

The general mortality rate for the European territory ofthe Soviet Union in 1928 was 18 .8 per thousand, as com-pared with the prewar average (1911-1913) of 28.6 perthousand . This is a drop of 34 per cent . Infant mortal-ity registered an even greater decline, falling from 270 perthousand in 1913 to 141 per thousand in 1930 . In the largercities the death rate and infant mortality rate have fallen to

456

HANDBOO$ OP THE SOVIET UNION

less than half the prewar rates . Thus, in 1929 the death ratein Leningrad was 15 .4 and in Moscow 13 .2 per thousand .Infant mortality in Leningrad had dropped by 1930 to 146,and in Moscow to 123 per thousand . The decline in mortalityhas been accompanied by an increase in the average span oflife, amounting to ten years for men and thirteen years forwomen. The average life span is now reported as 42for men and 47 for women. The annual increase in popula-tion has averaged over three million during the past six years .The birth rate for the R.S.F.S.R. in 1929 was 38 .58per 1,000, for the Ukraine 35 .26, and for White Russia,32.90. The excess of births over deaths (natural increase) was18.02 in the R .S.F .S.R ., 17 .72 in the Ukraine and 18 .69 forWhite Russia. In 1934, according to G . M. Kaminski, Com-missar for Health of the R .S.F.S.R ., the general mortalityrate for U.S.S.R. was one-third below that of prewar Russia,while the infant mortality rate had declined by one-half .

MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

Soviet laws regarding marriage, divorce and other familymatters are based on a recognition of the complete equality ofrights, both juridical and economic, of the married couple .No formalities are required for either marriage or divorceaside from registration by the persons concerned at a govern-ment civil registry office (ZAGS) . The state abstains frominterference in the personal relations of husband and wife,but guards the interest of the children .

The principal points in the Soviet code of laws on familyand marriage are as follows :

Each party to a marriage must have attained the age of 18years. The Presidium of the Central Executive Committee ofthe national republics has the right to lower this age limit forwomen but not by more than one year .


The persons to be married must be mutually informed inregard to each other's health . Before registering their marriagethey are required to inform each other whether they havepreviously been married, whether their former marriages havebeen dissolved and whether they have children from them.The forming of a new family, though creating new obliga-tions, does not liberate one from previous obligations in regardto the maintenance of children under age or of a sick ordisabled wife or husband .

When registering a marriage each party to it must declarewhich surname he wishes to bear . The wife has the right totake her husband's name, the husband his wife's name, or, asis often the case, each may keep his or her own name .

Divorce

In order to dissolve a marriage, one or both of the partiesmay apply to the ZAGS for divorce . If the ZAGS receivesan application for a divorce from one of the parties, the otherparty receives a copy of the record of the dissolution of marriage .

The personal rights and the rights of property of eachparty to a marriage are based on complete equality . Propertywhich was in the possession of either of the parties beforemarriage is considered his personal property, but that acquiredduring their married life is considered common property . Incase of division of property the court takes special circum-stances into account . For instance, if the main part of theexpenses in acquiring the property was incurred by the wifeor if she is left with children, the court awards her the largerpart and in some cases all of the property . Alimony as suchis not recognized in Soviet law, but a wife or husband whohas become disabled during the period of the marriage may beawarded an allowance for support from the other party to themarriage .

458


In disputable cases in divorce, when the question ariseswith which of the divorced parents the children should beleft, the court considers only the interests of the children .Preference is given to that parent with whom it is believedthe child will have better care and a better education . In prac-tice, when the child is still small, he is usually left with hismother, and she gets the allowance for support of the childfrom the father .

Support o f Children

The right to receive an allowance for maintenance fromparents belongs to all children whether they were born ofa registered or unregistered marriage or out of marriage . TheSoviet laws do not make any distinction between the child bornin wedlock and the child born out of wedlock .

The maintenance of the child is obligatory for the parentsuntil he is 18 years old. This obligation concerns each parentin an equal degree . If after divorce the child is left with hismother, the court in considering the question of allowance takesinto account the mother's work in taking care of her child,the time that she spends on him as well as her financial status,etc.

Persons who are obliged to pay allowance for support arerequired to send notice concerning any increase in their earn-ings or change in their work to the person to whom they aremaking payments. Fraudulent evasion of such payments is con-sidered criminal and is punishable either by imprisonment orfine .

The court's decision concerning such payments is sent di-rectly to the institution, factory or plant where the defendantworks. The institution is obliged to retain the sum fixed bythe court at each pay day . The allowance for support must notexceed 30 per cent of the father's earnings. In each case,


however, the sum of the allowance is fixed according to thefinancial status of both mother and father .

RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT SOCIETIES

The Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies take an activepart in the development of health welfare in the U .S .S.R .They organize relief to the population of districts sufferingfrom natural disasters and provide supplementary medical aidto the backward national minorities . They also assist the pub-lic health organizations in various measures for the improve-ment of living and working conditions, especially with regardto maternity and child welfare .

These societies have taken the place of the Red Cross Societyof Russia, founded in 1867, which was incorporated in theSoviet Red Cross Society by a decree issued in 1918 .

The Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have over 500stations which disseminate information and otherwise assist inimproving sanitary conditions, inculcating hygienic ideas, furth-ering maternity and child welfare, etc . Together these socie-ties have over one million members .

Representation in the United States

The Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies of the U .S .S .R .maintain a representation in the United States, at 1776 Broad-way, New York City. Dr. Gregory L. Rabinovitch is therepresentative .

One of the functions of the representation is to facilitate theexchange of information between medical organizations in theSoviet Union and physicians in the United States concerningthe latest achievements in the field of medicine and medicalresearch in both countries.

In addition, the representation, with the assistance of socialagencies in the United States, such as the National Council of

46o


Jewish Women, attempts to re-establish communication be-tween Russian nationals in the United States and their relativesin the U .S .S.R. Its efforts have brought about the resumptionof many contacts which had been broken entirely during thewar and revolution, approximately 385 such cases being suc-cessfully handled in 1 934 .

The representation also performs services for the familiesin the U.S.S.R. of a large number of men who served withthe American and Canadian Forces during the war and whowere killed or disabled in such service.

XVI

EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURALDEVELOPMENT

THE administration of education in the Soviet Union is underthe direction of a People's Commissariat for Education ineach of the seven constituent republics . In each republic thefunctions of the Commissariat for Education include, besidessupervision of schools, control over scientific organizations,nurseries, theaters, motion pictures, musical and art institutesand the state publishing enterprises . In addition to the formaleducational work directed by the different commissariats, edu-cational work is carried on by various organizations, such asthe trade unions, factory committees, cooperatives, trusts andcentral organs, army and youth organizations, etc . Theemphasis in educational work has been directed mainly alongthree lines : (i) eradication of illiteracy ; (2) introduction ofcompulsory elementary education ; (3) vocational training ofskilled workers and technicians .

By the end of 1932, according to official reports, illiteracyhad been reduced to 1o per cent, as compared with 42 percent in 1928 and 67 per cent before the war . Compulsoryelementary education, introduced in 1930, had been carriedout to the extent of 98 per cent of all children between theages of 8 and 11, and was rapidly being extended to includechildren from 12 to 14 years of age . During the four-yearperiod, 1928-1932, about half a million skilled workers andspecialists were graduated from secondary and higher technicalschools and universities ; another three million were in attend-

461


ance at such institutions in 1932, as compared with 640,000in 1928. The original Five-Year Plan schedules were farexceeded in all these respects .

The carrying out of this educational program involved theappropriation by the state of increasingly large sums . Expendi-tures for the year 1932 totaled 6 .4 billion rubles, as comparedwith 1 .o6 billion rubles in 1927-28 and only about 400 millionrubles annually before the war. During the first Five-YearPlan 15 .4 billion rubles were expended for education ; thissum was 36 per cent above the schedule set for five years .Emphasis has been placed on the training of skilled workers,technicians, managers, engineers, agricultural specialists, pro-fessional workers, etc ., who are in demand to carry out theprogram of industrialization and of large-scale agriculture .

Eradication o f Illiteracy

In prewar Russia the average literacy was said not to haveexceeded 33 per cent. By the beginning of the first Five-Year Plan it had been raised, according to official reports,to 58.4 per cent and by 1932 to 9o per cent . In the latteryear the urban population was reported 97 per cent literateand the rural population 88 per cent . The first Five-YearPlan provided for the teaching of 18.2 million illiterates.Actually over 45 million workers and peasants attended anti-illiteracy courses .

GROWTH OF LITERACY

1928 1930 1932i . Literacy, population between 8 and 5o

years (9o) 58 .4 67 .3 90 .0Urban 78 .5 83 .9 97 .0Rural 48 .3 62 .1 88 .0

2 . Attendance at literacy courses (thous .)Courses for semi-literates - 6,970 .2 6,471 .0Courses for illiterates 1,315 .0 6,981 .8 7,170 .0

EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 463

Many of the smaller nationalities in the country in prewartimes had no written languages . What few schools existedwere conducted in the Russian language. The government hasaided the minor nationalities to develop their national culture .Philologists have worked out alphabets for a number of thosenationalities which previously had none . In the R .S.F.S.R .(Russian Republic) 4o new alphabets have been in-troduced . By the end of 1932 out of 182 nationalities 134 hadtheir own national written language . Latinization of the na-tional alphabets has also been widely introduced ; by the end of1932 over 70 nationalities had adopted the Latin alphabet .

This has played a large role in eradicating illiteracy . For ex-ample, among the Turkomans in 1925, prior to Latinization,there were only 2 per cent literates; in 1932 there were 61per cent. Corresponding figures for Uzbekistan and Tadzhiki-stan are : 2 and 72 per cent and 1 .5 and 52 per cent . Similarprogress has been made among the Cossacks, Tatars, Kal-myks, Buryats and other minor nationalities . The more cul-tured peoples have achieved close to 100 per cent literacy andhave not only elementary but secondary and higher educationalinstitutions in their own languages . Elementary schools are con-ducted in 7o different languages in the U .S.S.R .

It is expected that adult illiteracy will be virtually eliminatedwithin a short time . While the number of persons attending"anti-illiteracy" courses is scheduled to show a continual decline,the number attending courses for semi-literates is expected toincrease from 6,471,000 in 1932 to 9,000,000 in 1 937 .

Educational System

According to official reports, by the end of 1932 preschoolinstitutions embraced one-fourth of the children between 3and 7 years of age. The four-year elementary school coursewas attended by 98 per cent of the children of school age,

464


while the seven-year course embraced more than two-thirds of.the children . More than 2 .5 million students were attendingsecondary and technical schools and another 400,000 wereenrolled in higher educational institutions . The total numberof children and adults in attendance at all the various educa-tional institutions reached more than 50 million, three times asmany as in 1927-28 .

Elementary school training is divided into three courses : afour-year primary course (for children of 8-12 years), fol-lowed by a three-year intermediate course (for children of12-15 years) and a three-year senior grade course (for childrenof 15-18) . The intermediate course is somewhat comparableto the junior High School in this country . The four-year course,made obligatory in 1930, now embraces practically all children,both urban and rural, of corresponding age, while the seven-year course already includes all city children and is being ex-tended to the rural districts. The total number of children at-tending elementary schools doubled during the first Five-YearPlan period, rising from 11 .3 million in 1927-28 to 21 .8million in the autumn of 1932 . In the school year 1 934-35attendance totaled 24 million, over three times the 1914figure (7 .8 million) . The number of pupils in the inter-mediate three-year course exceeded five million, more thannine times as many as in 1914 . The number of schools totaled167,300, as compared with 106,400 in 1914-15 . The numberof teachers increased from 363,000 in 1928-29 to 656,oooin 1 933-34--

Over 42,000 new school buildings have been built duringthe Soviet regime, about half of them during the three years

1931-33 . Expenditures on education amounted to 38 .6 rublesper capita in 1932 .

Kindergartens for preschool children (3 to 7 years) havebeen organized in practically all cities and now enroll about 6

EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

465

•

On Jan . I, 1933 .

million children . The kindergartens are open from 8 to 12hours a day, making it possible for parents to leave their youngchildren there not only during the period of work in office orfactory but also for the time devoted to social work and cul-tural recreation . The kindergartens are staffed by trainednurses and teachers, and provide food, care and systematic edu-cational work. On many collective farms summer kindergar-tens have been organized for children of peasant women atwork in the fields. In some cases such kindergartens have beencontinued throughout the winter as well . One of the goals ofthe second Five-Year Plan is to establish kindergartens for allchildren of preschool age in both urban and rural districts .In 1934-35, the number of children in attendance at theseinstitutions rose to 6,500,000, a rise of 13 per cent over theprevious year. The network of permanent kindergartens in-creased from 2,517 in 1928-29 to 27,151 in 1933-34, at-tended by 1,318,000 children. More than three times as manychildren attended seasonal kindergartens .

Elementary and secondary education has been organizedinto a unified system of polytechnical education for all children

EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS

-Number of Students (in thousands) --%1914-I5 1927-28 1932- 33 1934-35

Preschool Institutions 308 5,23! 6,5o6Elementary Schools, total 7,801 11,356 21,813 24,036

Primary (tat to 4th year) 7,236 9,947 18,179 18,538Intermediate and Secondary (5th

to Loth year) 565 1,409 3,634 5,498Secondary Technical Schools

Technicums (3-4-year course) 254 797' 683267

Factory apprentice schools 178 959* 297Workers' faculties (3-4-yr . course) 49 353k 297

Higher Educational Institutions

Total 125 16o 4 70+ 470

466


between the ages of 8 and 17 . The aim of the system is togive the children a thorough grounding in the fundamentalprinciples of the social and economic sciences and throughoutthe entire course to link up the school work with productive la-bor in industry and agriculture . Its course of study provides :

(a) general education, including history, social science, nat-ural science, foreign languages, mathematics, physics, chem-istry, etc . ;

(b) physical education ; and(c) technical education, including theoretical study of the

scientific principles of production and acquisition of skill inhandling tools used in production processes .

Both secondary and higher technical schools have been trans-ferred from the jurisdiction of the Commissariat for Educationto that of the various government departments in control ofindustry. Each industry is directly responsible for technicaltraining in its own field and must provide the facilities necessaryfor that purpose .

A series of government decrees issued in the past few yearshave inaugurated far-reaching changes in the methods andcurricula employed in the lower and intermediate schools. Adecree of August 1932 established that regular classes withdefinite lessons according to a strictly determined schedule ofwork were to constitute the basic form of school work, ratherthan the group, in which the project method was the basicmethod of teaching. The latter method was not abandoned butwas woven in with the regular subjects being taught . Twodecrees issued early in 1934 raised the educational requirementsfor teachers and principals of the primary and secondaryschools. Provision was made for supplying additional trainingto those teachers already at work who had not received therequisite normal school or college training. Two decrees pub-lished in May 1934 provided for a reorganization of the


methods of teaching history and geography, putting greateremphasis on exact factual information instead of on abstractgeneralization, as had been the tendency formerly .

Students having completed the seven-year elementary coursemay pass on to the "technicum," the basic type of secondaryschool in the Soviet Union. The technicum is a high schoolwith a three- or four-year course, which combines technical andindustrial training with a broad general education . There arenow more than 3,500 technicums, attended (in 1 934-35) by797,000 students, more than three times the number in1927-28 .

The technicums alone, however, could not supply rapidlyenough the millions of skilled workers required to operate thecomplex machines installed in factories, mines and mills. Con-sequently, various other types of secondary technical schoolshave been developed, among the more important being the fac-tory apprentice schools and the workers' faculties . The formeris attached to a factory or plant and admits pupils who havecompleted the elementary school training . It providestheoretical and practical training for work in the particularplant to which it is attached . A workers' faculty prepares work-ers who possess high skill and at least three years' industrialexperience but lack an adequate general education for entranceto a technical university. There are two types : a three-year daycourse and a four-year evening course . Attendance at factoryapprentice schools totaled 520,000 in 1933-34 and at workers'faculties 326,000, as compared with 178,000 and 49,000,respectively, in 1927-28 . Additional tens of thousands ofworkers are improving their skill and preparing for higherpositions by attending evening schools or courses, study circles,taking correspondence courses, etc.

With the introduction of compulsory seven-year educationfor all children during the second Five-Year Plan, both factory

468


apprentice schools and workers' faculties have curtailed theiractivities, a curtailment which is reflected in the drop in at-tendance since 1933 . The factory apprentice schools, whichformerly provided general educational courses in addition totrade and professional training, are now taking on the statuspurely of trade schools, offering six to twelve-month coursesin particular trades. At the same time, the increasing numberof workers with full seven-year elementary training is lessen-ing the number of students for whom the workers' facultieswere originally established.

The higher educational institutions-universities, special in-stitutes and academies-prepare skilled specialists for the vari-ous fields of engineering, economic and cultural work. Thecourse of study ranges from three to six years, depending uponthe complexity of the specialty studied . By 1933 the number ofsuch institutions amounted to 721 with an attendance of nearlyhalf a million, as compared with 130 institutions attendedby 16o,ooo students in 1927-28 and 97 attended by about125,000 students in 1914. Of the 97 prewar institutions 34were technical universities ; now there are over 350 highertechnical institutions . There are no tuition fees and alarge proportion of the students receive state stipends and arehoused in state dormitories. In 1932 the state expended 8oorubles per student for this purpose ; in 1933 this rose to 1,450rubles.

During the second Five-Year Plan increasing emphasis isbeing placed on secondary and higher education . Universalcompulsory seven-year polytechnical courses, which were forthe main part instituted in urban sections during the first Five-Year Plan, will be established throughout the U .S.S.R. Thenumber of elementary school children is expected to increasefrom 21 .8 million in 1932 to 29 .9 million in 1937, with thelarger proportion of the increase resulting from a threefold


469i

gain (from 3.6 million in 1932 to io.6 million in 1937) in thenumber of students in the intermediate grades .

Increase in Number of Specialists

As a result of the development of secondary and highertechnical schools, the number of graduated specialists in theproductive branches of the national economy reached 375,000by the end of 1932, over 2.5 times as many as the beginningof the first Five-Year Plan period (146,000) . During thesame period the number of graduates in the fields of educationand medicine nearly doubled . This growth is recorded in thetable below :

NUMBER OF GRADUATE SPECIALISTS

1 Preschool and elementary only .

By the end of the first Five-Year Plan period there wereabout 1,366,000 persons in the U .S .S.R. with higher and sec-ondary technical education . The year 1933 alone added about aquarter million more . In industry the number of graduate spe-cialists rose from 24,200 in 1928 to 122,500 in 1932, theproportion of such specialists to the number of workers increas-ing from 0.92 per cent to 1 .5 per cent. If non-graduate spe-cialists with extensive practical experience are included, the re-spective ratios are 3 .8 and 4.2 per cent . In agriculture thenumber of graduate specialists rose from 17,800 in 1928 (lessthan one to a thousand households) to about 84,000 in 1932and to approximately 122,000 by the beginning of 1934 . In-cluding persons with broad practical experience, the total num-

WITH HIGHER

EDUCATION

WITH SECONDARY

EDUCATION TOTAL

End of End of End of End of End of End of1928 1932 1928 x932 1928 x932

In productive branchestional economy

of na-90,000 184,500 56,ooo 19o,5oo 146,000 375,000

In education 1 26,ooo 43,209 185,500 344,000 211,500 387,200In medical service 63,500 76,300 72,000 z69,oo0 135,500 245,300

Total 179,500 304,000 313,500 703,500 493,000 1,007,500

4.70


ber of specialists employed in agriculture now exceeds 250,000 ;in industry-400,000 . Young specialists having completed sec-ondary or higher education during the period of the first Five-Year Plan, constitute over half of the total number.

Toward the end of the first Five-Year Plan period thetraining of agricultural experts was greatly reinforced by thereorganization of the Communist universities into higher agri-cultural colleges. Fifty-five such institutions were organized toprepare trained leaders and technicians for large-scaleagriculture (state and collective farms and machine-tractorstations) . The training of skilled agricultural workers, such astractor and truck drivers, brigade leaders, etc ., has also devel-oped rapidly . During the first Five-Year Plan about 4 .5 mil-lion such workers were trained . In 1933 there were a total of116 agricultural colleges, with students numbering 99,000, and928 secondary agricultural schools, with 121,000 students .

The schedules of the second Five-Year Plan call for anincrease in the total number of graduate specialists during theperiod of 69.9 per cent, from 1,366,000 to 2,323,000 ; ifspecialists who received their training chiefly in industry areincluded-from 2 .7 million to ¢.o million, an increase of 46 .5per cent . Of this total the number in industry proper will be299,800, a rise of 144 per cent ; including practical specialists,520,000 ; in agriculture, 288,700 as against 83,700 ; includingpractical agriculturists, 425,000 ; in education (all branches),825,200 and 1,535,100, respectively, as compared with 539000 and 1,070,000 in 1932.

Extra-Mural Education

With illiteracy rapidly dwindling, the anti-illiteracy coursesare being gradually converted into courses for semi-literates .The aim of this program is to give every adult not only aknowledge of the three R's but the rudiments of the social sci-


ences, physics, chemistry, biology and the technical processes ofproduction. Literacy in this broader sense has also been fosteredby the extensive development of the press and such other cul-tural media as libraries, clubs, motion pictures and theaters, ra-dio, museums, etc . A general concept of the progress in thesefields in recent years may be obtained from the following sta-tistics

GENERAL INDICES OF CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

47 1

* Figures are for years-1928-29, 1930-31, 1931-32 and 1932-33 respectively.** On Jan . 1st of the corresponding years.

The most outstanding growth has been recorded by thepress . In 1913 there were 859 newspapers, with a circulationof 2 .7 million. By 1930 there were approximately 3,000, witha circulation of 27 million, or ten times the 1913 figure. By

19281 . Publishing

NewspapersNumber

576Circulation (mill . copies)

8.8

1930

3,00027-

40,060

1932

6,5oo35 .583

49,880

1933

9,60036 .588

43,587

Number of languages

48Books and PamphletsNo. of titles

34,212" copies (millions)

366.7" languages

70" signatures of 16 pp . each

853.172

518 .394

(in billions)

1 .4 3.0 2 .4 2 .4

2 . Libraries, clubs, etc.No. of public libraries (thous .)

28.3 29 .3 26 .8 32 .5No. of Volumes (millions)

62.3 79 .1 100Village reading huts*

21,300 25,593 33,021 34,214Workers' clubs*

6,409 9,499 12,520 13,304

3 . Motion Picture Installations**

8,100 9,413 10,923(stationary and portable)In towns

4,900In villages

2,400 13,900 18,157 18,240

4. RadioNo. of Broadcasting stations

23 52 S7 6SCapacity (kw.)

,z6 381 902 1,658No. of Receiving points (thousands) 348 953 1 ,793 2,161


1932 there were 6,5oo, with a circulation of 36 million, andtoward the end of 1934 about i 1,ooo, with a circulation of 37million, or fourteen times the prewar figure . In 1913 there wasone newspaper for every 6o inhabitants ; in 1933 one for everyfour inhabitants or approximately one per family . Of all thenewspapers published in the U .S .S.R. about a fourth are issuedin 88 languages of the national minorities . There has been alsoa great development of local papers in factories, on state andcollective farms, at machine-tractor stations, etc . The publica-tion of magazines has shown similar growth . In 1931 therewere 2,167 different magazines, with a total yearly circulationof 419 million. Special newspapers and magazines are issuedfor various categories of the population-the youth, Red Armymen, engineers, trades-unionists, physicians, etc .

During the past several years the number of titles of booksand pamphlets issued has been about 50,000 annually, whilethe number of copies published in 1930 totaled 853 million,eight times the prewar figure . In 1934 the output of booksand pamphlets amounted to 480,000,000 . The average num-ber of copies per title in 1928 was 7,796 ; in 1930 this figureincreased to 17,338 and in 1933, the average edition ran to11,196 copies. Publications are of all sizes, from a pamphletof a few pages to bound sets in several volumes of the works ofSoviet or foreign writers. If the number of printed pages istaken as the unit of comparison, the ratio between 1932 and pre-war is approximately 4 to I ; in 1932 2 .5 billion signatures (16printed pages each) were issued, as against 550-600 millionsignatures maximum before the war . State publishing activi-ties have been co-ordinated into a central organization, "TheUnited State Publishing House" (OGIZ), located at Kuz-netsky Most, 16 Moscow. Books are now published in 104languages, as compared with 29 in 1913 . While a large pro-portion of the books is issued in cheap paper-bound volumes,


in the past few years the number of better editions has beenconsiderably increased. This accounts in part for the declinein total book production .

At the same time the network of libraries is being extended .In 1934 there were 39,700 public libraries, comprising atotal of approximately 100 million volumes. The largest ofthese libraries are the Leningrad Public Library, with 6 millionvolumes, the 'Academy of Sciences Library in Leningrad, theoldest library in the Soviet Union, and the Lenin Library inMoscow, now being enlarged to a capacity of i x millionvolumes. In addition, there is an extensive network of branchor traveling libraries, numbering in 1932 approximately 150,-ooo . These serve readers directly at the factories where theywork, at their clubs, parks, restaurants, etc ., and the peasantsnot only on large state and collective farms but even in remotevillages. By the end of 1933 there were about 15 million adultborrowers registered in the libraries .

Workers' clubs, Peasants' Houses in the towns, village read-ing huts and other similar institutions have sprung up through-out the country and provide a wide variety of cultural service .The village "reading hut" is not merely a small reading roombut also a meeting place for study circles and a center for thedissemination of information of all kinds (agricultural, legal,etc.) and for the presentation of motion pictures, amateur the-atricals, lectures, etc . The Peasants' Houses, of which therewere about 8,ooo in 1932, provide shelter and cultural servicesto peasants in town on temporary visits . In addition to theseand to the 13,000 workers' clubs, there have been establishedin the larger cities about 1,700 so-called "palaces of culture,"for the most part in new, modern buildings, equipped with lec-ture and theatrical halls, gymnasiums, rest rooms, etc .

There were more than 30,000 motion picture installationsin the U.S .S .R . in 1934, as compared with 7,300 in 1928 .


The number of spectators at moving picture performancestotaled 700,000,000 . Regular theaters number more than6oo, as compared with 150 in 1913 . There are about 30,000professional actors and musicians and plays are produced inforty languages . There is a special network of children's thea-ters, numbering over 65 at present . There are hundreds ofmuseums, providing a wealth of educational material .

A wide expansion of extra-mural cultural activities isplanned during the period of the second Five-Year Plan. News-paper circulation is scheduled to rise to 66 million by 1937, anincrease of 86 per cent over 1932 . Production of books andmagazines is planned to total 6,875 million signatures as com-pared with 3,263 million in 1932 ; of the total 30 per centwill consist of textbooks . Considerable emphasis is being placedon the growth of motion picture installations which will total70,000 in 1937, with sound theaters numbering 14,500, aninteen-fold increase . Legitimate theaters are scheduled tonumber i,o8o . Village reading huts are to double in number,while the number of books in public libraries is scheduled toincrease almost three-fold . The Plan also provides for a largeincrease in the number of artists' workshops and studios andexhibition halls, in furtherance of the program of develop-ment of the fine arts.

Scientific ResearchExtensive scientific research work is carried on in the higher

educational institutions, in special research institutes, and innumerous laboratories, experimental stations, scientific libraries,museums, observatories, etc . These total close to 2,000, ofwhich research institutes proper account for about 86o . Thislatter figure compares with 224 in 1928 . The number of scien-tific workers in the U .S.S.R. in 1 933 totaled approximately48,000, with additional thousands of assistants and "aspirants"(students in training)-in all 69,000 . Government appropri-


ations for scientific work, not including sums invested directlyby economic organizations, rose from 72 million rubles in1928-29 to 253 million rubles in 1932 . The total amountspent for scientific research work in 1932 was estimated atover 6oo million rubles .

Two important centers of scientific research are theAcademy of Sciences and the Communist Academy . The latterembraces about a dozen institutes (history, philosophy, eco-nomics, natural and exact sciences, literature and art) .

The Academy of Sciences, which celebrated its 2ooth anni-versary in 1925, embraces several score institutes, about twentyof which are headed by scientists of renown . In the year 1929the Academy of Sciences underwent radical reorganization .Scientific research designed to meet the practical needsof the various branches of the national economy was givenmuch wider place . This has involved an extension ofthe technical group in the academy, the organization of a num-ber of new technical institutes, and the carrying out of exten-sive practical research in industrial and agricultural problems .Among the new departures in its work have been the holdingof "visiting sessions," such as the one held in the summer of1932 in the Ural and West Siberian Regions devoted to astudy of the problems of the Ural-Kuznetz combine, and theestablishment of branches and scientific bases in districts of in-tensive construction-the Urals, West Siberia, Transcaucasia,Kazakstan and Central Asia . In December, 1933, a decreewas issued placing the academy directly under the jurisdictionof the Council of People's Commissars, the membership andworking plans of the academy to be subject to ratification bythe Council .

In accordance with the policy of linking up scientific re-search more closely with the practical problems of the nationaleconomy, a large number of scientific institutes formerly un-


der the jurisdiction of the Commissariat for Education havebeen transferred to that of the respective economic commis-sariats. The Commissariat for Heavy Industry alone has juris-diction over 136 institutes and 42 local branches ; Light Indus-try-I6 institutes and 5 branches ; Transportation-8 institutesand 16 branches ; Health (R .S.F .S.R.)-271 institutes and 1 5branches, and so on . The system of agricultural scientific re-search institutes embraces 140 institutes, 42 branches and someI,ooo experimental stations .

The names and addresses of some of the more important in-stitutes are listed below :

GENERAL SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTES

Io, Leningrad

DIRECTOR ADDRESS

All-Union Academy of SciencesAll-Union Arctic InstitutePhysiological InstituteGeological InstituteGeo-chemical InstituteSoil InstituteBotanical InstitutePhysico-Mathematical Institute

Energetics InstitutePhysico-Chemical Analysis

InstituteZoological InstituteLanguage and Thought

Institute

A. P . KarpinskyOtto SchmidtI . P . PavlovV. A. ObruchevA. E . FersmanB. A . KellerB. A. Keller

Moscow, U.S.S.R.

S . I. Vavilov andI . M . VinogradovG. M . KrzhizhanovskyN. S. Kurnakov

S. A. Zernov

Communist Academy Volkhonka 14, MoscowInstitute of World Economy

and World Politics E. S . Varga Volkhonka I4, MoscowAgrarian Institute V. P . Milyutin Volkhonka 14, MoscowTimiryasev Biological In-

stitute L J. Agol Pyatnitskaya ul ., 48,Moscow

Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute V. V. Adoratsky Marx and Engels ul., 5,Moscow

Institute of Monopoly ofForeign Trade A. Manukian Gorky, 56, Moscow

State Physico-Technical In-stitute A. F. Joffe Leanoy, Yashumov per.,


INDUSTRIAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

IndustryRUSSIAN CONTRACTION

Mining, Metals and Machine-Building

Institute of Applied Miner-alogy

ADDRESS

Bolshaya Ordynka,

477

INSTITUTES

AgricultureAll-Union Institute of Plant-

Breeding N. I. Vavilov Ul . Gertzena, 44,Leningrad

Lenin Academy of AgriculturalSciences N. I. Vavilov Bolshoy Komsomolsky

per ., 6, MoscowInstitute of Organization of

Large-Scale SocializedAgriculture M. I . Ronzhin Khoromny tup., 6,

MoscowCollective Farm Institute D. G. Lurye Bolshaya Dmitrovka, 4,

MoscowInstitute of Agro-Soil Science V . P . Bushinsky Chaussie Entuziastov

iii-a, MoscowInstitute for the Mechaniza-

tion and Electrification ofAgriculture M. L. Feldman Kuznetsky Most, t5,

Moscow

Pyzhevsky per., 7,Moscow

Institute for the MechanicalExploitation of Minerals

All-Union Institute forMetals

Institute for NonferrousMetals

Metal and Machine-BuildingInstitute

Mekhanobr

VIM

Gintsvetmet

Niimash

VasilyevskyLiniya,grad

Ostrov, zl8-a, Lenin-

Gospitalnaya 3-8, Lenin-grad

Bolshaya Ordynka,Pyzhevsky per ., so,Moscow

Simonovsky Val, n,

Automobile and Tractor In-stitute NATI

Moscow

Mos.Saltykovskaya, S,cow


Instorf

GINI

Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya,73, Moscow


Peat Institute

Petroleum Institute

ChemicalKarpov Chemical Institute

Institute for Applied Chemis-try

GIPKH

Institute for the Rubber In-dustry

Maroseika, iz, Moscow

Vorontsovo Polye, to,Moscow

Vatny Ostrov, 2, Lenin-grad

MiscellaneousInstitute of the Timber In-

dustry

Kuntsevo, MoscowInstitute of the Textile In-

dustry

NITI


As an example of the growth of some of these institutesmay be mentioned the State Physico-Technical Institute atLeningrad, which celebrated its fifteenth anniversary in Octo-ber, 1933 . The staff of this institute, which in 1918 consistedof eighteen workers grouped about the distinguished scientist,A. F. Joffe, now totals about 2,000 physicists. The institutehas subdivided into several institutes-physico-technical, electro-physical, chemico-physical, physico-agronomical, etc . More-over, branches have been established in other important centers,such as Moscow, Kharkov (Ukraine) and Sverdlovsk (Urals) .During the fifteen years of its existence the institute has pub-

Central AerohydrodynamicInstitute TSAGI Ul. Radio, 17, Moscow

Power and FuelInstitute for Power and

Electrification

All-Union ElectrotechnicalInstitute VEI

Stremyanny per ., z9,Moscow

Prolomny proyezd, 45,

Dzerzhinsky Thermotechni-cal Institute

Moscow

Leninskaya Sloboda, 3,Moscow


lished more than 1,000 scientific works . Similarly, thestaff of the Institute of Applied Chemistry, founded in 1919,has increased from 40 to 400.

As an aid to the reconstruction of agriculture Sovietbotanists, who numbered 1,440 in 1930, have made an in-tensive study of the native flora of the country, mapping theirdistribution and discovering many types valuable for cultiva-tion. A 2o-volume publication, The Flora of the U.S.S.R ., isnow in press . Notable work in this field was done by theSoviet botanist, the late I. V. Michurin, who developed newfruits, vegetables and other plants which can be adapted tovarious climates of the U .S .S .R .

Only a few of the developments in the other branches ofscience can be cited here : In biology-Pavlov's work onconditioned reflexes; in chemistry-Bakh's research on the de-velopment of ferments, discovery of processes for the manu-facture of synthetic rubber, plastics, etc .; in physics-Joffe'swork in the physics of solid bodies, especially crystals, investi-gation of atomic nuclei ; in geology-extensive researchesresulting in an unprecedented growth of the known mineralresources ; in metallurgy-work on ferroalloys, special steels,processes for aluminum manufacture ; in machine-building-new designs for airplanes, automobiles, and industrial andagricultural machinery of all kinds ; in power-research workon new types of generators, condensers, insulating materials,high-voltage transmission lines, etc . ; in agriculture-researchin many fields, notably in that of selection, struggle againstdrought, for increased yields, new crops, improved methods ofcultivation, etc . ; in Arctic exploration-systematic explorationand scientific investigation of the Arctic.

The second Five-Year Plan calls for a large expansion ofresearch in all branches of science and industry . The fundsassigned by the government to research institutes are scheduled

480


to rise from 470 million rubles in 1932 to 970 million in 1 937 .Capital investments for the period are to total 1,040 millionrubles as compared with 390 million during the first Five-YearPlan. Thirteen new research institutes and seven branches willbe established, among them, a Coal Institute in Moscow,for the study of coal in the Moscow Basin ; an Institute ofPhysics and a Metallurgical Laboratory in Leningrad ; an In-stitute of Hard Alloys in Podolsk, and branches of the Academyof Sciences in Tashkent, Novosibirsk and other cities .

Soviet scientists have participated in many scientific congressesin other countries, and in recent years a number of such con-gresses have met in the U .S .S .R. Among some of the recentinternational congresses held in the United States and attendedby scientists from the U .S.S.R. have been the InternationalAstronomical Congress held at Cambridge, Mass., in Septem-ber, 1932„ the International Genetics Congress at Ithaca,N. Y., in August, 1932, and the International GeologicalCongress at Washington, D . C ., in July, 1933 . The nextGeological Congress is scheduled to meet in 1937 in theU.S.S.R. The 1935 International Congress of Physiologistswas held in Leningrad from August 9 to 17 . It was attendedby 1,500 delegates representing 37 countries, including 500from the U .S.S.R. and 165 from the United States . The ThirdInternational Congress on Iran Art and Archeology took placein Leningrad in September, 1 935 .

Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries

The All-Union Society for Cultural Relations (VOKS)was formed for the purpose of establishing closer contact be-tween cultural and scientific bodies in the U .S.S.R. and thoseof foreign countries. It arranges an exchange of information,reports, periodicals, and books issued by such societies in theSoviet Union for similar publications in foreign countries, and


4.81

issues the magazines Voks and Soviet Culture Review. Thesociety maintains a Service Bureau for Foreign Visitors, whichassists foreigners going to the U .S .S.R. for purposes of re-search or study, and arranges tours for visiting scientists, pro-fessors, etc. Reciprocal societies for the promotion of culturalrelations have been formed in many countries. A Y. Arosev isPresident of the Society, whose address is Grusinski Square17, Moscow, U.S .S .R . There is a branch in Leningrad atOctober 25th Prospekt, 40 .

The American Society for Cultural Relations with Russia(U.S .S.R .) was organized in 1926 . It is now known as theAmerican Russian Institute (for Cultural Relations with theSoviet Union) and its main office is located at 56 West45th Street, New York City .

XVII

REGULATIONS FOR FOREIGNERS

SOVIET legislation in general places foreigners resident in theU.S.S.R. on the same footing as Soviet citizens . Foreign resi-dents, engaged as industrial and farm workers, and not em-ploying hired labor are accorded all political rights, includingthe right to vote and to be elected to the Soviets . Article 9 ofthe instructions published by the Central Executive Commit-tee of the U .S .S.R. concerning the election to the Soviets inI93o reads as follows : "In accordance with the constitutionof the federated republics, foreign workers and peasants notusing hired labor, resident within the territory of the Union,possess electoral rights. The Electoral Commissions maygrant electoral rights also to foreign citizens from the cate-gory of employees (administrative and technical personnel),resident within the territory of the Union, in case there is suf-ficient proof of their absolute loyalty to the Soviet Govern-ment." Foreign workers and technicians are permitted to jointhe consumers' co-operatives and to be supplied by them .

Foreigners who have resided within the territory of theU.S.S.R. for not less than eighteen months and who have inthat time carried on socially useful work are considered resi-dents. Foreigners who intend to establish their residence in theterritory of the U.S .S.R. arc . obliged to present their foreignpassports to the proper administrative department of the localexecutive committee, where they are given an identificationcard good for a limited period, maximum one year, and re-newable on expiration. For entrance to and exit from theU.S.S.R. the corresponding visas are required .482

REGULATIONS FOR FOREIGNERS 48 3

The laws of the U.S.S.R. recognize the following kinds ofparticipation of foreign capital in the economic life of theSoviet Union: concessions, participation of foreign firms inindividual transactions with special permission of the govern-ment authorities of the U.S.S.R ., participation of foreigncapital in corporations founded according to Soviet law, andtechnical assistance under special agreements concluded withstate organizations . The labor laws of the Soviet Republicsapply to all foreigners resident in the U.S.S .R . ; foreign work-ers and specialists enjoy all rights to social insurance possessedby Soviet citizens and are permitted to join the trade unions .

By virtue of Article 16 of the Federal Law of April 22,1931, relating to citizenship, a simplified method of admittingforeigners to Soviet citizenship is applied "to foreigners whoare workers and peasants and live in the territory of the Unionfor the purpose of work, as well as to foreigners enjoying theright of asylum . . . ." Under this method a decision of theExecutive Committee of the respective region ("krai" or"oblast") is sufficient .

There is full equality of rights between men and women,both in determining the citizenship of a married woman, andin determining the citizenship of the children .

Soviet law places no special restrictions on the right of na-tionals of other states to engage in professions . It does notexclude foreigners from the Government service, nor does itmake naturalization a prerequisite .

As is the case in most countries, according to Soviet legis-lation the right to fish in territorial waters is granted only tonationals of the country. The limitation of the rights of for-eigners to engage in fishing refers to all the territorial watersof the Soviet Union, i.e., within twelve miles of the shore . For-eigners may obtain fishing rights under special concessions .

As a general rule, in order to follow vocations requiring a


diploma, persons holding diplomas of foreign universities mustpass corresponding examinations in the U .S.S.R. This rulehas been laid down particularly in the case of physicians .

Foreign citizens settling in the U .S .S.R. or engaged to workthere are permitted to bring in without license and free of dutyall their personal belongings (including furniture) within thelimits of a specified list . The objects imported into the countrymay be taken out. Rare books, paintings, antiques and similarobjects of value acquired in the U.S.S.R. are allowed to betaken out of the country on production of an authorization(furnished usually when the sale is made) of the People'sCommissariat for Education or its local organs and on paymentin certain specified cases of an ad valorem duty . Foreignersemployed in Soviet organizations have special privileges in re-gard to supplies and the right to receive parcels from abroad ata reduced rate of duty .

Foreign citizens in the U .S.S.R. may acquire the right ofproperty in things and building rights in houses and have re-course to the law of mortgage . Nearly all the commercialtreaties between the U .S .S.R. and foreign states contain ruleson the property rights of foreigners .

Foreign citizens, as well as Soviet citizens, are entitled underthe law to enjoy religious freedom and the right to hold re-ligious services . In accordance with the decree of January i,1918, every citizen may profess any religion or none . Theunimpeded performance of religious rites is guaranteed in sofar as they do not disturb public order and are not accompaniedby any infringement of the rights of citizens of the SovietUnion .

Foreign citizens resident in the U .S.S.R. pay the same taxesand assessments as Soviet citizens . Income tax is also levied onthe income of foreign citizens resident abroad to the extentto which this income arises from enterprises or property lo-


495

cated within the U .S.S.R. Income of foreign citizens derivedfrom sources outside the limits of the U .S .S.R. is not subjectto taxation. Foreign corporations doing business in the U .S .S.R .are taxed on that part of their income derived from theiractivity within the Soviet Union. Exceptions to these rules aregranted only by special arrangement, either to avoid doubletaxation or in accordance with special concession or technicalaid agreements.

The legislation of the Soviet Republics fixes certain rulesfor the expulsion of foreigners whose manner of living, ac-tivity and conduct are incompatible with the principles andinstitutions of the Soviet state . In all court proceedings for-eigners enjoy the same rights as citizens of the U .S.S.R. Sovietlaw does not require special bail or bonds for foreigners .

Marriages between foreigners as well as marriages betweenforeigners and Soviet citizens are registered in accordance withthe general laws of the U .S.S.R. Registration of marriages be-tween foreigners at foreign consulates is permissible, providedthe conditions prescribed by Soviet law for civil marriage arecomplied with . Marriages contracted abroad are consideredvalid in the U.S.S.R. The same rules apply to the registrationof divorces . The laws of the U .S .S.R. provide for divorcealso in cases where only one of the two parties is a residentof the U.S .S.R. Family law contains no special provision forforeigners . They are subject to Soviet law except to the extentthat international treaties provide for the application to themof the laws of their native country .

An order of the People's Commissariat for Education ofthe R .S.F .S.R . of April 6, 1925, established that where minors,citizens of foreign states in treaty relations with the U.S.S.R .and resident in the R.S.F.S.R ., are in need of guardianship,such guardianship may be exercised by the diplomatic or con-sular representatives of the foreign states concerned . Local


departments of education are instructed to report, in the man-ner prescribed, to the foreign representatives concerned, eachforeigner under age who is in need of a guardian . In case theforeign representatives decline to accept guardianship over their

national, the guardianship shall be exercised by the local au-thorities .

The Soviet civil code contains no special provisions covering

the right of inheritance of foreigners in the U .S .S.R. There

is an extensive body of precedents supplementing the existinglaw. The chief provision of existing agreements with other

countries is that in case of the death of a foreigner the lawof his native country applies to the movable part of his estate,while Soviet law applies to his immovable property, immovableaccording to foreign law. In case there are no treaties Sovietlaw applies. Since the Soviet civil code does not distinguishbetween movable and immovable property, all buildings, build-ing rights and legal relations arising from the use of land areto be considered as immovable property .

The estate of a foreigner in the U .S .S.R. is subject to an

inheritance tax in accordance with the laws of the Soviet

Union, unless the contrary is stipulated in international treatiesratified by the U .S .S.R .

By virtue of Article 7 of the Civil Procedure Code, theCourt is obligees in taking cognizance of contracts made andacts executed abroad to take into account all the formal rulesoperative in the place where the contract was made or the

act executed . . . "provided the said contracts or acts are lawful

under the existing laws and treaties ."U.S.S.R. consuls abroad perform the functions of Soviet

notaries in respect to transactions between the citizens andjuridical persons of the U .S .S.R. and also for foreign corpora-tions and citizens in so far as the transaction is to be performedwithin the territory of the U .S .S.R .


The courts of the U .S.S.R. execute the judicial commissions

of nearly all the states with which the Soviet Union is in

normal diplomatic relations . Special conventions have beensigned with Germany, Austria, Lithuania and Estonia con-

taining more or less uniform provisions . States which haveentered into an agreement of this kind with the U .S .S.R. areexempt from fees for judicial commissions ; in all other casesa fee is charged .

Special arbitration clauses are contained in treaties with Ger-

many, Austria, Norway, Latvia, Italy, Turkey and otherstates. By virtue of Article 12 of the Treaty of Commerceand Navigation between the U .S .S.R . and Italy of February 7,1924, the contracting parties undertook to recognize "every

article dealing with arbitration contained in the contracts be-

tween their nationals and all kinds of companies ."

A foreign-trade arbitration commission and a maritime

arbitration commission have been set up at the All-Union

Chamber of Commerce in Moscow .

CURRENCY REGULATIONS

The State Bank of the U.S.S.R . has issued the following

summary of currency regulations :

Rules Regarding Foreign Currency

I . Every foreign citizen entering the U.S .S.R. is allowed tobring in foreign currency (money, checks, letters of credit,etc.) to an unlimited amount .

2 . Foreign citizens arriving from abroad should apply to thecustoms office for a statement certifying the amount of foreigncurrency brought in by them. Such certificate gives the personconcerned, during a period of two months after arrival in theU.S .S.R., the right when going abroad of freely taking out asimilar amount of actual foreign currency notes or transferringsame through the banking institutions of the U .S .S.R.

Checks, letters of credit and other payment instruments ex-

487


pressed in foreign currency brought into the country by foreigncitizens may be taken out by them on leaving for abroad ortransferred through Soviet banking institutions even after theabove-mentioned two-month term, on condition that these docu-ments are precisely indicated in the certificate issued by the cus-toms office .

This does not apply to foreign currency and checks, letters ofcredit, and other payment instruments expressed in foreign cur-rency transferred from abroad to foreign citizens staying in theU.S.S.R .

3 . Foreign citizens arriving from abroad may, within a pe-riod not exceeding two months from the date of their arrival,deposit the foreign currency brought into the country by themwith the State Bank or the Bank for Foreign Trade, to be cred-ited to a current account in foreign currency known as type"A." The foreign currency proceeds of checks, letters of creditand other similar payment instruments issued by foreign banksand other organizations may also be credited to this account oncondition that these payment instruments are passed directly tothe respective Soviet bank without the actual proceeds havingbeen delivered personally to the holders of the account .

Sums standing to the credit of foreign currency accounts,type "A," are at the request of the holder of the account trans-ferred abroad without any kind of permit whatever having tobe presented by him. The transfer of such sums abroad can bemade in any practical form desired by the owner of the account(remittance order, check, letter of credit, and so on) .

Foreign citizens having a type "A" current account with theState Bank or the Bank for Foreign Trade may, on leaving thecountry, carry out with them the foreign currency standing to'their credit on their presenting a corresponding certificate, is-sued by the State Bank or Bank for Foreign Trade, to the cus-toms office. The banks are obliged to issue such certificates at therequest of the holder .

4. Foreign citizens arriving from abroad may, within a pe-riod of two months from the date of their arrival, use the for-eign currency brought in by them for the purpose of acquiringtravelers' checks of the State Bank of the U.S .S.R. Thesechecks may also be purchased for the foreign currency proceeds


due to foreign citizens who have brought into the U .S .S .R .checks, letters of credit, and other payment instruments, issuedon foreign banks and other institutions, if the actual proceedsof these payment instruments have not been originally paid tothe purchaser .

The original purchaser of a travelers' check of the StateBank has the right to convey freely or transfer same abroad oncondition that the check bears a facsimile of his signature andhas not been endorsed .

Foreign currency received by the original purchaser of acheck on cashing it can be taken freely by him out of the coun-try on his presenting the corresponding certificate of the StateBank to the customs office or it may be transferred abroadthrough a banking institution .

5 . Checks, letters of credit and other payment instrumentsof the State Bank and Bank for Foreign Trade expressed inforeign currency and drawn on other foreign correspondentsmay be taken freely out of the country or transferred abroadby the person in whose name they have been drawn . The de-spatch of these documents abroad should be carried out throughone of the banking institutions of the U .S .S .R .

6. For the export, transfer or despatch abroad of foreigncurrency in cases not foreseen by points Nos . 2-5 it is neces-sary to obtain a permit from the Department of Foreign Cur-rency and International Accounting of the Commissariat forFinance .

7. The State Bank, Bank for Foreign Trade and other bank-ing institutions carrying out operations for the purchase of for-eign currency convert the latter into Soviet currency at the of-ficial current rate published in the newspaper Izvestia.

8. At all frontier customs offices of the U .S .S .R. there are ex-change bureaus of the State Bank and other banking institutionsof the U .S .S .R. which freely effect conversion of foreign intoSoviet currency at the rate indicated in par . 7 .

Rules Governing the Import and Export of Soviet Currency

9. The import of Soviet currency (bank notes of the StateBank of the U.S .S.R ., treasury notes and coins of the U.S .S.R .,as well as payment instruments drawn in Soviet currency, with

489

490


the exception of the documents indicated in par . 1 o and i i) isprohibited.

io . The import of (a) checks and other payment instru-ments drawn in the currency of the U.S .S.R ., against the ac-counts of foreign correspondents with Soviet banking institu-tions, and (b) travelers' checks of the State Bank of theU.S.S.R. is allowed to an unlimited amount .

The import of drafts drawn in the currency of the U .S .S.R.is allowed to an unlimited amount, if permit for same has beenobtained from the Department of Foreign Currency and Inter-national Accounting of the Commissariat for Finance .

i i . The import of Soviet currency and payment instrumentsdrawn in Soviet currency is allowed on condition that proof issubmitted that same were exported before August 1, 1926 .

12 . The export of Soviet currency and payment instrumentsexpressed in Soviet currency is prohibited, with the exceptionof the documents indicated in par. i o.

The export of payment instruments indicated in par . i o isallowed to an unlimited amount, the export of travelers' checksof the State Bank being regulated by the rules given in par . 4 .

The export of drafts drawn in Soviet currency is effected bypermission of the Department of Foreign Currency and Inter-national Accounting.

13 . Soviet currency not declared by persons who arrive inthe U.S .S .R. at the customs examination is confiscated . Sovietcurrency declared by persons who arrive in the U .S .S .R. at thecustoms examination is put into custody . Should same have beenexported before August 1, 1926, the proofs thereof are exam-ined by the Department of Foreign Currency and InternationalAccounting, and, if considered satisfactory, the currency is al-lowed to be taken into the U.S .S.R. In the absence of proof orwhen the proof presented is found to be unsatisfactory, theowner of the currency is given a period of six months either totake the money out personally or to authorize another person toconvey same abroad on his behalf .

State Bank Deposits

For the convenience of foreigners two types of accounts inforeign currency may be opened with the State Bank of the

REGULATIONS FOR FOREIGNERS 491

U.S.S.R ., Neglinnaya 12, Moscow, or with any of its branches :current account, type "A," the balances on which may befreely transferred abroad ; and current account, type "B,"whose balances may be disposed of only within the U .S.S.R .Either type of account may be opened by foreign citizens (in-dividuals or corporations), regardless of whether they residein the U.S.S.R. or abroad . If the depositor resides abroad,remittances are made through the foreign correspondents ofthe State Bank . In the United States the principal correspon-dent is the Chase National Bank, in New York City . Amongthe leading correspondents in other countries are : the MoscowNarodny Bank, in London ; the Banque Commerciale pourl'Europe du Nord, in Paris ; and the Garantie and Kredit-Bank fur den Osten, in Berlin . In case the depositor is anindividual no permit is needed to open an account ; corpora-tions are usually required to obtain a permit from the Com-missariat for Finance .

All foreign currency brought into the U .S.S.R. or trans-ferred from abroad may be deposited to these accounts . Pay-ments from both types of account may be effected on demandin actual foreign currency or in rubles, at the desire of theholder of the account ; payments from type "A" accounts maybe effected also in checks of the State Bank drawn on foreigncorrespondents of the latter or in travelers' checks of theState Bank.

When withdrawing money from a current account, type"A," at time of departure, the depositor should secure a permitfrom the bank to take out such money . As such permits arevalid for only 15 days from date of withdrawal, if departureis delayed, funds should be redeposited in a similar account .

Interest on accounts in foreign currency is payable annuallyin the currency in which the account is opened . The presentinterest rates are as follows : 6 per cent for regular drawing


accounts, 7 per cent for accounts placed on fixed deposit for6 to 12 months, and 8 per cent or over for accounts placedon fixed deposit for one year or more . Interest rates are fixedby the head office of the State Bank, and may be changed bythe latter at any time, whereupon notice is given to holdersof accounts .

TRAVELERS"CHECKS

The State Bank of the U.S.S.R. issues travelers' checks forthe convenience of foreigners in the U .S.S.R. These checksare issued in denominations of 5, io and 25 rubles, and aresold for foreign currency by the State Bank and its agentsand by Intourist offices and representatives, both in theU.S.S.R. and abroad. Travelers' checks presented for paymentin the U.S .S.R. are paid at the desire of the holder either inforeign or Soviet currency . Payment in foreign currency ismade only if the check is presented by the original purchaser ;in Soviet currency only if the person presenting same for pay-ment is a Soviet citizen or if one of the endorsers is a Sovietcitizen .

When cashing travelers' checks for foreign currency, theoriginal purchaser has the right to convey this currency outof the country on the strength of a certificate issued to himby the institution cashing the check. Or the travelers' checksmay be taken abroad freely and submitted for collection at anybank or company abroad with which arrangements have beenmade. In the United States these include among others : Ameri-can Express Company ; Chase National Bank, ManufacturersTrust Company, National City Bank and Corn ExchangeBank of New York City ; First National Bank and Conti-nental Illinois Bank and Trust Company of Chicago ; FirstNational Bank of Boston ; Mellon National Bank of Pitts-burgh; Tradesmens National Bank and Trust Company of


Philadelphia; Hibernia Bank and Trust Company of NewOrleans; Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank and TrustCompany of San Francisco ; Union Bank and Trust Com-pany of Los Angeles . Reciprocally, the State Bank of theU.S .S.R . cashes travelers' checks and drafts against letters ofcredit issued by these banks .

SOVIET BONDS

Soviet bonds (non-premium) may be purchased by for-eigners resident in the U .S.S.R. or abroad . Foreigners resi-dent in the U .S .S.R . may subscribe to state loans in eitherrubles or foreign currency . Bonds paid for in rubles receivepayment in that currency and may not be taken abroad, whilepurchasers of bonds in foreign currency may receive, at thetime of purchase, a permit from the State Bank to conveysuch bonds abroad . Foreigners resident in the United Statesmay purchase bonds direct from the Foreign Department, StateBank of the U.S.S.R ., Neglinnaya 12, Moscow, from anyof its correspondent banks in this country or from the SovietAmerican Securities Corporation, 3o Broad Street, New York

The bonds now available to American investors are the 7per cent ten-year gold bonds of the Second Five-Year PlanLoan, maturing on October I, 1943 . These bonds are issuedin denominations of 10o gold rubles (a gold ruble contains0.774234 grams of pure gold), and bear interest at 7 percent payable quarterly . The price of the bonds in dollars variesaccording to the prevailing rate of exchange. On demand ofthe bondholder the bonds will be repurchased by the StateBank of the U .S .S.R. at a price of par plus accured interest .The bonds are redeemable commencing Oct . 1, 1939, atwhich time 20 per cent of the entire issue will be drawn bylot, and an equal amount each October I thereafter untilmaturity .

494


Bonds may be held by their owners or left with the StateBank of the U.S.S.R. for safekeeping and service. In thelatter case the bonds are registered in the name of the ownerand a receipt is issued to him . The State Bank thereafter makesregular payments of interest and principal when due, by mail-ing checks to owner or his bank . This service is without charge .In the former case interest coupons and bonds may be depositedat any bank for collection through the American correspondentbanks of the State Bank of the U.S.S.R ., or deposited forcollection at the offices of the Soviet American Securities Cor-poration. The Chase National Bank is the paying agent in theUnited States for the 7 per cent ten-year gold bonds of theSecond Five-Year Plan Loan . Payments of principal andinterest to bondholders in the United States are made in Ameri-can dollars or in such other foreign currency as the holder maydesire, in either case at the rate of exchange prevailing on dateof payment. The bonds are exempt from taxation by theU.S.S.R . or any of its constituent subdivisions .

PATENTS AND COPYRIGHTS

Foreign residents of the U .S .S.R. enjoy the same rights inregard to the registry of inventions as Soviet citizens . Thisholds true likewise for foreigners resident abroad, except incases where the foreign government does not extend reciprocityin this respect. The granting of patent rights to foreign in-ventors does not carry with it the right to work the patentcommercially in the Soviet Union by opening industrial ortrading concerns. Foreigners desirous of utilizing their patentin the U.S.S.R. must secure a special concession .The U.S.S.R. does not participate in the International

(Berne) Leagu,~ for the Protection of Industrial PropertyRights . Thus, as a rule, foreigners taking out letters patentin the U .S .S.R. have no priority based on the filing of an


application in the country where the invention was made . Aforeigner's right to a patent dates from the moment an applica-tion was filed in the U.S.S.R . A different method may beestablished only by virtue of an agreement between theU.S.S.R. and the state concerned . So far the U .S.S.R. hasmade two agreements regarding the protection of industrialproperty rights including patents for inventions (with Germanyand Norway) .

The administration of all matters concerned with patentsis handled by a special Inventions Committee under the super-vision of the Council of Labor and Defense . The Committeehas two subsidiary bodies : the Originality Bureau and theCouncil of Appeal . The Originality Bureau accepts applica-tions, issues patents, certificates, etc . This bureau examines tensof thousands of applications annually . The expert examinationmust be completed within six months from date of application ;in 1933 such examination took on an average about 2-3 months .The functions of the Council of Appeal cover the examina-tion of appeals against decisions of the Originality Bureau .The Inventions Committee publishes a special journal, VestnikKonateta po Izobretatelstvu, giving notices of applications re-ceived and of patents and certificates granted, lists of inven-tions made in the U .S .S.R ., etc .

Either a patent or a certificate of authorship is granted forthose new inventions favorably reported on by the OriginalityBureau. The grant of a Soviet patent carries with it exclusiverights during the entire period of validity of the patent (15years) and guarantees the patentee a definite sum on the dis-posal of the patent. The holder of a certificate of authorshipis precluded from transferring his rights in return for money .The compensation to holders of these certificates is based onagreements entered into with the state enterprise utilizing theinvention. Remuneration at a lower rate is granted also for


proposals for technical or organizational improvement, notnecessarily new in world technique but new to the U .S.S.R .and which have been accepted as adaptable to Soviet enterprises .The extent of remuneration for patents, certificates of author-ship and proposals is in each case based on calculations as tothe annual economy resulting from the use of the inventionor proposal .

The Soviet patent law makes it obligatory to utilize allinventions which are considered useful for Soviet nationaleconomy. The Inventions Committee sends a copy of the ap-plication to the patent committee of the industry concerned,which examines the invention from the point of view of itsusefulness for that industry. This body is required to decidewithin one month as to the usefulness of the invention . Shouldthe patent be considered useful, it is the duty of the organiza-tion to enter into negotiations with the inventor or his assignee .Serious penalties are inflicted (dismissal and prosecution) forthe non-utilization of or delay in working inventions declareduseful .

The number of applications filed by foreigners in I93o andI93I, the latest years for which data are available, was 1 ,25 1and 634, respectively. By far the largest number of suchapplications came from Germany and the United States, theformer accounting for 632 in I93o and 318 in 1931 andthe latter for 286 in 1930 and 149 in 1931 . Great Britaincame next with 53 and 40, respectively . Patents have beenissued on 32 .1 per cent of the total number of foreign appli-cations examined, which compares with 25 .4 per cent as re-gards applications of Soviet citizens .

According to Soviet law foreigners resident abroad mustauthorize persons permanently residing in the U .S .S.R. toconduct all affairs in regard to the issue of patents on theirinventions . The office now handling such matters is the Patent


497

Bureau, U.S .S.R . Chamber of Commerce, Ul . Gertzena, 8,Leningrad. This bureau has issued a pamphlet listing thedocuments and materials required in making application for apatent or for registration of trade marks and listing the variousfees and charges in connection therewith . The chief officialfees for patents are : application fee-6o rubles ; filing feefor appeals-3o rubles; transfer of patent rights-6o rubles ;issue of a license-3o rubles . Annuities are payable as follows :during the first three years-5o rubles a year, for the nextthree years-25 rubles more than each preceding year, andfor every subsequent year 5o rubles more than the precedingyear. Foreigners resident abroad pay these fees and annuitiesin foreign currency to the correspondents of the State Bankof the U .S.S.R . to the credit of Account No. 16o of the Com-missariat for Finance with the Foreign Department of theState Bank . Certificates of authorship are not subjected to anyfees and annuities whatsoever . A patent may be exchanged fora certificate of authorship. Foreigners usually prefer the latterto a patent. In making application it should be specificallystated which is desired .

All material sent to the U.S.S.R. in connection with appli-cations for patents, certificates, trade marks, etc ., such as draw-ings, plans, models, etc., may be imported into the countryfree of duty and without special permit . Such material shouldbe certified at a consulate of the U .S .S.R .

Trade MarksPatents for trade marks in the U.S.S.R. may be obtained

by foreign manufacturers who are permitted to do business inthe territory of the U .S.S.R. or who are nationals of a countrypermitting the registration of trade marks for citizens of theU.S.S.R. Since the laws of the United States permit the regis-tration of trade marks of applicants from the Soviet Union, asimilar privilege is enjoyed reciprocally in the U.S.S.R. by


American citizens . In I93I out of 64 foreign applications forregistration of trade marks 28 came from the United States,which country held first place in this respect . Germany camesecond with I9 applications. Fees and other charges are listedin the above-mentioned pamphlet issued by the Patent Bureauof the U.S .S.R. Chamber of Commerce. Exchange of notesproviding for reciprocity in respect to registration of trademarks has taken place between the U .S .S.R. and Austria, Italy,Denmark, Sweden and Finland .

Copyright LawsArticle i of the Union law on copyright of May 16, 1928,

states that "copyright in productions which have either ap-peared in the territory of the U .S .S.R . or which exist as manu-scripts, sketches or in any other form is recognized as the pro-perty of the author or of his assignee or successor, irrespectiveof their citizenship." Thus foreigners have the same rights asSoviet citizens in relation to their copyright in productionswhich appear in the territory of the U .S.S.R .

Article 2 provides that "copyright in productions which haveappeared abroad or which are located abroad as manuscripts,sketches or in any other form, is recognized only if there isa special agreement between the U .S .S.R. and the correspond-ing state, and exclusively within the limits laid down by suchagreement." Thus domestic laws do not protect the copyrightof foreigners in products which have appeared abroad unlessthere is a convention to that effect. There is as yet no copy-right agreement between the Soviet Union and the UnitedStates. Soviet law grants no copyright on translations .

TORGSIN SERVICETorgsin (All-Union Company for Trade with Foreigners)

occupies a special field in foreign trade. It supplies goods and

*The Soviet Government has announced that the Torgsin organization willbe liquidated on February 1, 1936.


provisions to foreigners and to Soviet citizens in exchange forgold, foreign currency, or Torgsin orders, and to foreignsteamers entering the ports of the Soviet Union. It operates achain of stores in hundreds of localities, including all the im-portant cities and ports of the U .S .S.R. These stores have instock a large variety of domestic and imported articles (food,drygoods, household supplies, handicraft articles, etc .) .

People abroad who desire to enable their friends or relativesin the Soviet Union to purchase goods from Torgsin storesmay secure orders by applying to authorized agents or anylocal bank. Among the principal companies and banks whichhandle Torgsin orders are : American Express Company,Amalgamated Bank, Am-Derutra Transport Corporation,Gdynia-America Line, Manufacturers Trust Company, PublicNational Bank and Trust Company, R . C. A. Communica-tions, Inc., and Bank of America, Calif .

Torgsin orders may be sent to any resident of the U.S .S.R .in any quantity. The order may specify the merchandise tobe delivered to the recipient of the order, or the choice ofgoods may be left to the recipient .

Upon receipt of an order Torgsin immediately notifies theperson designated in the order to go to the Torgsin storenearest to his residence and select the merchandise desired .Persons who reside in localities where there are no Torgsinstores receive, with the notification of the receipt of the order,a price list from which they may select and order merchandise .Torgsin forwards the merchandise ordered by registered parcelpost. Packing and postage are deducted from the amount ofthe order at the rate of 5o kopeks for parcels of 20 lbs. orless and 8o kopeks for parcels of over 20 lbs. and up to 40 lbs.Four times as many persons availed themselves of Torgsinservices in 1933 as in the preceding year,

XVIII

TOURIST TRAVEL IN THE SOVIET UNION

PRIOR to the war the tourist traffic of Russia was small . Thefew foreigners who came in confined their attention, as a rule,to the larger centers . Likewise, in the early years of the Sovietregime the tasks of reconstruction left little time for the pro-vision of the usual tourist facilities. At the beginning of theperiod of the Five-Year Plan, however, it was decided tocreate a special tourist organization, since Sovtorgflot (the So-viet Mercantile Fleet) and Derutra (the shipping organiza-tion) were found to be inadequate to handle the growing num-ber of foreigners desiring to visit the Soviet Union . In 1929,the state travel company Intourist (a contraction of Russianwords meaning "foreign tourist") was organized .

In a period of six years Intourist has cared for more than100,000 visitors from abroad . Its employees number more than12,000 . It controls the leading hotels in the large centers ofthe Soviet Union, as a result of a merger in 1932 with the All-Union Hotel combine .

Fleets of foreign-built cars and buses, augmented by othersof Soviet manufacture, are at the disposal of its many bureausfor sight-seeing purposes. These bureaus have been establishedin all important centers and places of interest to tourists . At-tached to each are corps of guides who speak several foreignlanguages. The guides are trained in their profession in Mos-cow University which conducts all year-round courses forguides. In this school they are taught languages and giveninstruction in the history and physical aspects of the U .S.S.R.500

TOURIST TRAVEL IN THE SOVIET UNION 501

They are sent to the various sight-seeing centers for visits andare transferred from time to time from one bureau to anotherin order to increase their knowledge of different sections . In-tourist has facilities to assist foreign business men and tech-nicians interested in studying various branches of Soviet in-dustry and commerce.

In addition to the thirty large hotels taken over by Intourist,most of them since overhauled and modernized, an extensivebuilding program is under way . The hotels vary in size from50 to 1,ioo rooms, many with private bath or shower . Res-taurants are attached to each hotel . Following is a list of themore important hotels in European U .S .S.R. where Intouristservices are available : New Europe Hotel, Baku ; IntouristHotel, Batum; Intourist, Erivan ; Rossia, Gorki ; Krasnayaand Astoria, Kharkov ; Continental, Kiev ; Grand, Kislovodsk ;Astoria and Europe, Leningrad ; National, Metropole, Savoyand New Moscow, Moscow ; Europa, Novorossisk ; Londonand Krasnaya, Odessa ; Caucasus, Ordzhonikidze ; Great Mos-cow, Rostov-on-Don ; Northern, Sevastopol ; Riviera, Sochi ;Lux, Stalingrad ; Orient, Tiflis ; Leningrad, Yalta .

Agreements have been made by Intourist with the chief So-viet railways and steamship companies which give it prior rightson accommodations for its clients . Foreign offices have beenestablished in many of the principal cities of the world . Lead-ing travel agencies all over the world book tours and cruisesto the Soviet Union.

Intourist is not attached to a commissariat but is subordi-nated directly to the Central Executive Committee of the So-viet Union. The board of directors has its headquarters in theNational Hotel, i i Gorky St ., Moscow, where all the depart-ments are centered . The following is a list of Intourist officesabroad and the principal bureaus in the U.S.S.R . :

5o2


INTOURIST OFFICES ABROADNEW YORK: S45 Fifth AvenueAUSTRIA : Vienna, 6 OpernringBELGIUM : Brussels, 6 Rue D'AssautDENMARK: Copenhagen, 4 BernstorffsgateENGLAND: London, W.C.z, Bush House, AldwychFRANCE : Paris, z6 Rue Auber tz (Opera)GERMANY . Berlin N.W.7, 6z-63 ; Unter den Linden

Hamburg, Alsterdam 4- 5HOLLAND : Amsterdam (0), Archimedesweg 8zNORWAY: Oslo, z4b Inkognito Gt.SWEDEN ; Stockholm, Kungsgatan 4 aTURKEY : Istanbul, "Natta" Calata Serey

PRINCIPAL INTOURIST OFFICES IN THE U .S .S .R.MOSCOW

Main office : Hotel NationalLocal office : Hotel MetropoleHotel New EuropeInternational Hotel30 Ploshchad TevelevaHotel Continentalt4 NikitskayaHotel Europe

BAKUBATUMKHARKOVKIEVKISLOVODSKLENINGRADGORKY (formerly Nizhni

Novgorod)ODESSAORDZHONIKIDZEROSTO V-O N-DONSTALINGRADTIFLISVLADIVOSTOKYALTA

Hotel No . 5Hotel LondonHotel CaucasusGreat Moscow HotelHotel LuxHotel OrientHotel Zolotoi RogHotel Leningrad

There is probably no other country offering so great adiversity of scenery, nationalities, customs and conditions asdoes the U .S.S.R. The largest country in the world, its topog-raphy ranges from ice-bound northern tundras to semi-tropicaldesert sands, with all varieties of climatic and geographical con-ditions. The many nationalities inhabiting the territories whichcomprise the Soviet Union are an unending source of interest .Intourist Service

Four cities are the customary points of arrival for tour-ists in the U.S .S.R . : Leningrad, by steamer through the BalticSea or train from Helsingfors ; Moscow, by train from West-


ern Europe ; Kiev, by train through a southern border point,and Odessa, usually by boat from Istanbul across the Black Sea .From these centers numerous itineraries may be worked out,covering the Northern regions ; the Volga area from Gorkyto Stalingrad ; the Caucasus Mountains (with the highestmountain peaks in Europe ; the Ukraine ; and the Crimeanpeninsula. The itineraries cover the large metropolitan andindustrial centers, rural districts, mountain and watering re-sorts, visits to factories, schools, museums, parks, housing de-velopments, hospitals, nurseries, and, in fact, almost all phasesof Soviet life and culture in the European part of the U .S .S.R .Occasional tours are conducted by Intourist on special trainsto Central Asia. Several expeditions of ice-breakers into thepolar regions have been participated in by foreign tourists. Aspecial itinerary comprises the more distant industrial centers,such as Magnitogorsk in the Urals .

Suggested itineraries ranging from five to thirty days are ar-ranged each travel season by Intourist . These tours are avail-able for a standard daily rate in three classes : first, tourist,and third. They vary from five days in one Soviet city toa grand tour, including travel over the greater part of Euro-pean U.S .S.R .

The tour prices quoted in connection with the standardtours include the following : meals, hotels, guide-interpreters,sight-seeing two to three hours daily. The cost of Sovietentrance and exit visas is included in the tour price . Transpor-tation between cities is arranged at low special rates quoted inthe currencies of the Western countries. Special itinerariesvarying from those included in the standard tours may beworked out for those cities where Intourist service is available .

Partial service in the Soviet Union is arranged for thosewho wish to secure hotels, meals and transport service in thecities and do not desire full tour service . It is intended par-

504


ticularly for business men and those wishing to confine theirvisits to one or two cities. The cost of Soviet visas is additionalwith partial service .

For those not desiring to take one of the Intourist tours orlimit themselves to partial service, open service orders may bepurchased. These orders are issued for all three classes oftravel and for a minimum number of days . They entitle theholder to select itineraries after arrival in the Soviet Unioncomprising various cities in which Intourist service exists (allimportant centers) .

Care, transportation and delivery of luggage up to 70 poundsper person is included in the cost of Intourist service . The tour-ist is advised to take only hand luggage. Larger, overweightpieces are subject to additional charges for transportation .

Transit ServiceA number of transit services for travelers to the Near or

Far East are in operation . The Trans-Siberian express leavesMoscow six times weekly for Vladivostok and Manchuria .Connecting service from the Polish border at Negoreloyegives rapid through service from Western Europe to the FarEast, the most expeditious way of making this journey exceptby plane . Rail access to China is via the Chinese Eastern Rail-way to Harbin and then southward . A boat service operateson regular schedule between Vladivostok and Tsuruga, Japan .

The shortest route to Persia from Western Europe is alsothrough the U .S .S.R. A daily limited which connects withEuropean railways at Shepetovka (Polish border is routedover a line through Kiev, Kharkov, and Rostov-on-Don toBaku. From there a Caspian Sea steamer makes regular tripsto the Persian port of Pekhlevi . The journey to Teheran ismade by automobile . If Tabriz is the destination in Persia,train service via Tiflis and Armenia connects with the Persianborder at Julfa .


Visa Regulations for Tourists

Citizens of any country may make application to visit theSoviet Union as tourists . The traveler must hold either an un-expired passport of any nation, or a re-entry permit and certifi-cate of identity as issued by United States authorities, or similardocuments issued by authorities of other countries .

Separate applications are required for each person . Childrenunder 16 may be included in the application of either parent .Tourists visas and extensions of visas are issued only in connec-tion with the purchase of Intourist service .

The cost of the Soviet entrance and exit visa is included inthe rate for Intourist standard tours . Visa charges are $i i .oofor the entrance visa and $i i .oo for the exit visa for Ameri-can citizens .

The Soviet exit visa is good for departure through any ofthe border points on the Western border of the Soviet Union(Leningrad, Negoreloye, Bigosovo, Belo-Ostrov, Ostrov,Kingesep, Shepetovka, Volochisk, Moscow airport, Odessa) . Ifthe traveler plans to leave the Soviet Union via the East(Trans-Siberian Railway or Persia), note of this should bemade in the application and special permission obtained .

Transit visas are issued to travelers purchasing throughtickets for direct transit through the Soviet Union . Short stop-over privileges are allowed in the cities en route . Intourist par-tial service may be arranged for the cities visited . The chargefor the transit visa, covering both entrance and exit, forAmerican citizens is $i i .oo .

According to the existing laws of the U .S .S.R ., tourists maybring in with them foreign currency and valuables, checks, let-ters of credit, articles made of precious metals, bullion, preciousstones and jewelry. These must be registered on the tourist'spassport, or a special receipt made out for them by the customsoffice at the Soviet border point of entry . The tourist is allowed

506


to take out with him the amount of foreign currency and val-uables which he brought in and which are enumerated in hisreceipt or on his passport, if he leaves within two months fromdate of entry. If he leaves after that time special permissionmust be obtained to export foreign currency. The import orexport of Soviet currency is prohibited .

Tourists may take with them as much clothing and personaleffects, duty free, as they may need for their own use . Articlesof value purchased at Torgsin or Intourist shops in the SovietUnion, such as works of art or articles containing preciousmetals or stones, may be taken out on presentation of purchasereceipts .

Typewriters, movie apparatus and films may be taken in oncondition that the traveler bring them out of the country withhim on his return . These must be registered on the passport atthe border point of entry .

Films and plates may be taken out by the person who broughtthem in provided they have been developed or if they remainunused, with the seals on the film or plate packs unbroken . Atthe Soviet border a receipt is given or a note made on the tour-ist's passport regarding the films taken in, which must be shownat the border point of exit .

Border Points and Distances Between Cities

The Soviet Union may be entered through the followingborder points: Belo-Ostrov (from Finland) ; Leningrad port(via Baltic steamer) ; Leningrad airport ; Kingesep (from Es-tonia) ; Ostrov and Bigosovo (from Latvia) ; Velikie Luki(airport) ; Negoreloye, Shepetovka, and Volochisk (from Po-land) ; Odessa, Batum, and Novorossisk (via Black Seasteamer) ; Julfa (from Persia) ; Baku (via Caspian Sea, fromPersia) ; Junction 86 (from Harbin) ; Vladivostok (via Sea ofJapan) .

AYYJ1NDIX ISTATISTICAL SURVEY "

Indicators

Unit

I. GENERAL INDICATORSNational income

bil . rub, in pricesof x926-27

Share of industry in

in % of

national income

total

Share of large-scale in-dustry in total produc-tion of industry and ag-riculture

"Share of socialized econ-omy in national income

"Share of socialized indus-try in total industrialproduction

94

Share of socialized agri-culture in total agricul-tural production

uBasic capital of socialized mil . rub . In

"The figures in this table in some cases differ slightly from those given in the body of the Handbook . This is due either to the fact that theyrepresent later revisions or to the fact that they may refer to a somewhat different calculation . The latter is in some cases indicated by the footnotes .

I Not including lumber cutting and fish industry .2 1928-1929 on October t ; remaining years on Jan . x ; without deductions for amortization . Capital put into operation after inventory of

October 1, 1925 figured at actual cost, up to October 1, 1gz5 revalued at t925 prices .

economy (yearly average) prices of 1933 49,394 5x,645 59,903 71,870 85,22z 98,284 111,730II . INDUSTRY

Basic productive capital oflarge-scale industry s

mil. rub. x0,262 .4 11,389 .0 14,198 .0 17,310 .6 22,585 .6 28,919 .2

1913 1928 1929 x930 1931 x932 1933 x934(Prslim . )

21 .0 25 .0 28 .9 35 .0 40 .9 45 .5 48 .5 55 .6

24 .01 34 .8 37 .9 42 .2 42 .6 45 .3 46 .4 47 .9

40 .6 - 54 .5 6x .6 66 .7 70 .7 70 .8 73 •1

44 .0 56 .o 74 .3 90.0 93 .0 95 .0 96.0

89 .5 94 .4 - 99 .5 99 .55 99 .67

3 .0 7 .0 28 .9 6z .8 74 .7 79 .5 83 .8

STATISTICAL SURVEY

~„0

Indicators

unit

1913

1928

0929

1930

1931

1932

1933

1934(Prdlist.)

For production of means in % ofof production

total

- 59.1

60.7

-

64.5

68.6

73.0

74.5

x•For production of con- 2:sumers , goods

-

40.9

39.3

-

35.5

31.4

27.0

25.5

.

Total production of large- mil . rub. 'scale (census) industry in prices

O

(not including lumber of 1926-27 0cutting and rafting, fish

Pq

Industry, railway shops)

10,251

15,818

19,923

25,837

32,263

36,813

40,079

47,636

0 ,

x 1C3

O

Total output of metal- mil . rub. inworking Industry

prices of 1926-27

x,131

2,135

2,940

4,844

7,398

9,240

10,732

13,375

-,Machine-building

11

697

1,631

2,233

3,647

6,077

7,628

8,908

11,118Share of machine-building

in % ofin total output of large-

total

C,..

scale industry

6.8

10.3

1-1.2

14.1

18.8

20.7

22.1

23.3Capacity of power plants

thous .

0(at end of year)

kw.

1,098

1,905

2,296

2,876

3,972

4,677

5,579

6,212

Z,Regional stations

in % oftotal

16.1

32.8

40.9

49.3

59.8

64.6

66.6

66.9Output of electrical power mil . kw:h.

1,945

5,007

6,224

8,368

10,687

13 i540

16,366

zo,52oin % of

Regional stations

total

22.2

40.0

44.8

54.3

6o.6

68.1

70.3

74.2

Producers' goods in % of 41 .8 44 .4 46 .6 50 .7 54 .0 55 .6 57 .0 58 .7Consumers' goods total 58 .2 55 .6 53 .4 49 .3 46 .0 44 .4 43 .0 41 .3

Average yearly output per In o%o of

- 112 .2 112 .9 109.7 107 .6 102 .6 108 .9 109 .5worker (in prices of preceding year1926-27)

Indicators

Unit

Output of coal

thous. tons"

" oil (with gas)

"

"•

" pig iron " "•

" steel " "" rolled steel

"

"•

" raw copper tons•

" tractors pieces• " automobiles (notincluding machines as-sembled from Importedparts)

"III. AGRICULTURE

Basic capital of socializedagriculture (at beginning mil . rub . inof year, with allowance

prices offor depreciation)

1926-27Sovkhozes (StateFarms)

`<Sown area of state farms

thous . ha .Percentage of peasant fa-milies in collectives (onJune 1)

in %Number of machine-trac-tor stations (on June ,)

units

STATISTICAL SURVEY

a Fiscal year 1927-28 .1 Fiscal year t928-29 .s Fiscal year 1929-30 .s Aside from the x58 machine-tractor stations under the supervision of Tractor Center, in 1930 there were 479 stations operated by cooperatives .9 As of October t, 1934.

1913 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934(Peollm. )

29,117 35,485 a 40,044 4 47,780 5 56,752 64,4o6 75,959 93,4809,234 11,652 3 t3,694'1 18,826 5 23,093 22,252 22,503 2),5324,216 3,282 3 4,021 4 4,964 s 4,871 6,161 7,110 10,4404,231 4,251 a 4,854 ` 5,761 11 5,6z0 5,927 6,842 9,5653,506 3,408 a 3,898 1 4,503 s 4,159 4,288 4,882 6,723

31,113 30,014 a 35,503 4 44,517 a 44,335 44,986 44,295 53,333- 1,272 a 3,281 4 9,097 a 38,108 50,640 78,138 94,438

671 3 1,390 4 3,375 s 4,005 23,879 49,724 72,466

- 1,367 .4 1,665 .9 2,491 .2 5,990 .4 11,468 .9 12,660.9 14,284 .8

- 300 .0 377 .2 551 .0 1,363 .9 2,639 .3 3,384 .6 4,066 .0- 1,735 .0 2,273 .8 3,926 .2 10,958 .3 13,447 .5 14,138 .8 15,oz6 .1

- 1 .7 3 .9 23 .6 52 .7 61 .5 64 .4 73 .0 a

158 8 1,228 2,115 2,660 3,326

s As of October i .7 Tractor suooly for all years figured with allowance for depreciation .

STATISTICAL SURVEY

Indicators Unit 1913 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934O

(Psalim .) 0

Share of machine-tractorstations in total sownarea of collectives

in ofo oftotal 27 .4 37 .1 49 .3 58 .6 63 .9 Vr

Tractor supply (at endof year) vNumber of tractors pieces - 26,733 0 34 .943 0 72,078 125,344 148,480 210,490 278,413

aZto

Capacity thous. hp . - 278 .1 6 391 .4 a 1,003 .5 1,850 .0 2,225 .0 3,205 .6 4,460 .6 0Total production of agri-culture

mil . rub . i nprices of 1926-27 12,607 .1 - 14,744 .6 14,007 .6 13,943 .9 13,071 .8 13,961 .2 14,829 .1 x

Total sown area mil. ha. 105 .0 113 .0 118 .0 127 .2 136 .3 134 .4 129 .7 131 .4 QGrain 11 94 .4 92 .2 96 .0 101 .8 104 .4 99 .7 101 .5 104 .7 "17

wheat 11 31 .6 27 .8 29 .8 33 .8 36 .9 34 .5 33 .2 35 .25 j

Technical crops thous . ha. - 8,615 .4 8,799 .8 10,465 .7 14,039 .3 14,877 .2 11,981 .0 10,710 .4 ~'

sugar beets (factory)cotton

u11

648 .7688 .0

769 .7971 .3

770 .71,055 .5

1,035 .8

1,582 .61,394 .12,137 .3

1,537 .82,172 .0

1,210 .72,o5 i .6

1,183 .31,937 .2

LXi

tolong-fibre flax 11 1,015 .3 1 i 364 .1 1,630 .6 1,749 .1 2,390 .9 2,510 .0 2,394 .6 2,109 .8 Q

Feed crops 11 - 3,871 .5 4,983 .1 6,506 .9 8,780 .7 10,631 .6 7,321 .0 7,116 .6 CYield of grain crops centners

per ha . 8 .5 7 .9 7 .5 8 .5 6 .7 7 .0 8 .8 8 .5C1'i

Yield of sugar beetsYield of flax fibre

u

11

168 .o3 .25

131 .82 .4

81 .12 .2

135 .32 .5

86 .42 .3

64.32 .0

74 .22 .3

96.02 .5

ciz

Total grain cropNumber of livestock :

horses

mil. cent.mil . heads

801 .0 733 .2

33 .5

717 .4

34 .6

835 .4

30 .2

694 .8

26 .2

698.7

19 .6

898 .0

t6 .6

894 .0

15 .7

Qz

large horned cattle 70 .5 67 .1 52 .5 47 .9 40.7 38 .4 42 .4

hogs 26 .o 20 .4 13 .6 14 .4 11 .6 12 .1 17 .5

sheep and goats « 146 .7 147 .0 108 .8 77 .7 52 .1 50 .2 51 .9

oana1010GHL 0UKY1:1

Indicators

Unit

1913

1928

X929

1930

1931

1932

1933

1934(Prelim .)

IV. TRANSPORTATION ANDCOMMUNICATION

Basic capital of trans-portation and communi-cationTotal commercial opera-tions of railway trans-portCommercial freight car-ried on railwaysNumber of passengerscarried on railwaysLength of railway linesin operation (annualaverage)

Freight carried by rivertransport system (invessels and towed)Number of passengerscarried by river trans-port system

Length of navigablerivers in use

Freight carried by mari-time vesselsIn vessels of Sovtorg-flot (Soviet merchantfleet)

'*In addition, vessels of the Northern river fleet leased to the lumber organizations towed rafts totaling I,748 .r tons .11 Including lines operated by other organizations-84,000 km .

mil. r ub . i nprices of 1933 - 15,804 16,315 17,361 18,747 20,56o 22,687 -

mil . ton-km . 91,089 117,995 145,087 185,876 214,222 253,420 244,639 273,200

thous . tons 132,400 156,237 187,626 238,732 258,283 267,906 268,075 316,ooothous .

persons 184,800 291,118 365,239 557,704 723,681 967,053 927,028 942,000

km . 58,549 76,887 77,010 77,073 8o,z48 81,564 8z,o8o 83,191

thous.tons - 18,332 .7 23,143 .6 36,504 .9 44,668 .9 4 6 ,937 .9 44,7170 10 52,000

thous .persons - 17,780 .1 20,697 .1 32,058 .0 34,428 .2 43,631 .1 41,584 .2 40,000

thous . km. - 71 .6 74 .0 75 .0 76 .0 77 .611 82 .2 82 .3

thous . tons 33,069 18,416 23,513 34,946 36,903 34,349 33,102 38,90 .

U - 7,870 8,839 12,278 t4,627 14,820 15,868 22,x26

22 Not including expenditures of 1,275,000,000 rubles for special purposes.13 Not including municipal construction by government departments and institutions .

STATISTICAL SURVEY

Indicators

Unit

1915 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934N

(Pralim. )

Length of air lines (notincluding intersectingbranches)

km. 9,326 15,426 26,316 27,716 31,934 34,761 42,700

xz

Length of interurban tele-graph-telephone lines

t hous . km.

502.5 890 .1 955 .0 1,071 .4 1,312 .4 1,515 .0 1,65z .6 1,870.2dCd0

V. CONSTRUCTION 0Capital investment in so- mil . rub . Incialized economy

prices of cor-responding years

- 4,083 5,885 9,786 15,681 zo,o86 18,432 12

x0

Industry

- 1,880 z,615 4,115 7,407 10,431 8,863

Agriculture

et

- 379 840 2,590 3,645 3,820 3,900

Transport and Caa-munications (includ-ing industrial enter-prises)Municipal economy Is

(including city elec-tric stations)

958

231

1,249

300

1,783

315

2,878

336

3,658

465

3,268

562

xC=i

to0C

r-]

11Education 221 241 239 250 234 r-,Health and Social Wel-fare

11

130

99 ,x6 128 141 148 173

zr-+0

VI. LABOR 14 ZAverage number of wageand salary earners in en-tire national economy 15

in thous .

- 11,599 .0 12,167 .9 14,530.9 . 18,989 .5 22,942 .8 22,301 .2 23,225 .9

~]

a

y

Cn

,.C

yr-,nrC/1C,t

w

Indicators Unit

1913 19281929 1930 1 93 1 1932 1933 1934

(Psalim . )

Large-scale industry(including hued em-ployees of industrialco-operatives) in thous. 3,096 .0 3,365 .9 4,263 .8 5,483 .3 6,481 .3 6,222 .1 6,528.0

Transport ~< 1,270.0 1,302 .2 1,499 .2 1,927.2 2,222 .0 2,235 .1 2,509 .8Construction « 723 .0 917 .8 1,623 .4 2,548.9 3,125 .8 2,343 .5 2,475 .0State farms and ma-chine-tractor stations « 345 .4 416 .4 795 .0 x,6oi .i 2,370 .7 2,572 .7 2,861 .2

Wage fund of entire na-tional economy mil . rub. 8,158 .8 9,735 .2 13,597 .2 2x,394 .8 32,737 .7 35,031 .7 4x,603 .7Large-scale industry(including hired em-ployees of industrialco-operatives) <<

- 2,695 .0 3,222.4 4,413 .0 6,494 .3 9,547 .9 10,366 .8 12,418 .8Transport « 1,093 .0 1,zo9 .6 1 ,594 .8 2,305 .2 3,347.3 3,793 .2 4,965 .4Construction ~~ 720 .0 940 .9 1,756 .x 3,x68 .7 4,715 .9 3,789 .7 4,936 .0State farms and ma-chine-tractor stations „ 113 .0 166 .3 483 .1 1,258 .8 2,000 .5 2,604 .5 3,543 .8Average annual earnings

in entire national econ-omy rubles

- 730 8oo 936 1,127 1,427 1,571 1,791Large-scale industry(including hired em-ployees of industrialco-operatives) « 870 957 1,035 1,184 1,473 1,666 1,902

Transport 861 929 1,064 1,196 1,506 1,697 1,978Construction «

- 996 1,025 1,082 1,243 1,509 1,617 1,994State farms and ma-chine-tractor stations «

- 327 399 6o8 786 844 1,012 1,207

Indicators

Unit

VII. GOODS TURNOVERmil. rub . In

Retail trade turnover

prices of cor-State trade

responding yearsmil. rub . in

Co-operative trade

prices of cor-responding years

Private trade

"Total

"Urban

"Rural

"Turnover of restaurantsand cafeterias

"VIII. EDUCATION

Number of students Inhigher educational insti-tutions (at beginning ofyear)

thous.Number of students intechnicums (at begin .ning of year)

"Number of students inworkers' faculties (atbeginning of year)

etNumber of students inprimary and secondaryschools (at beginning ofyear)

a

16oa ~m o ar .

STATISTICAL SURVEY

1913 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934(Prelim. )

w

2,408 .8 3,197 .7 4,282 .5 6,547 .2 12,995 .4 21,680 .3 31,958 .0

x

9,341 .2 11,396 .0 13,300 .0 18,178 .0 22,508 .9 21,239 .7

zd

22,242 .0

to- 3,406 .6 2,273 .4 1,043 .0 - - - - 0- 15,156 .6 16,867.1 18,625 .5 24,725 .2 35,504 .3 42,920 .0 54,200 .0

0- 10,494 .7 11,499 .1 11,996 .3 16,447 .0 23,387 .8 29,045 .6

rrl38,420 .0

- 4,661 .9 5,368 .0 6,629 .2 8,278 .2 12,116 .5 13,874 .4 15,780.0

0

- 350 .0 550 .0 1,290 .0 2,740 .0 4,840 .4 6,374 .3 6,6oo .o

xC=f

Cl10

124 .7 18 159.8 166.8 191 .1 272 .1 394 .0 469.8

48 .0 16 253 .6 284 .0 327 .1 593 .7 754 .1 797 .0 cizI-0

- 49 .2 56.5 68 .2 231 .9 319 .5 352 .7 z

7,800 .6 16 11,356.2 12,074 .8 13,503 .7 17,656 .2 20,846 .2 21,813 .5 24,036 .2

17 Not including psychiatric and sanitary-prophylactic and auxiliary institutions .1a Not including doctors not employed in health Institutions .191919-29 .W 1929-30 .

to

STATISTICAL SURVEY

Indicators

Unit 1913 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934(Prelim .)

IX. HEALTH PROTECTIONNumber of hospital beds 17

In cities

" 89.2 143 .6 186.4 - 230 .0 251 .3 270 .5In villages

"In hospitals of rail-

49 .4 6o .o 90 .4 - 107.0 119 .7 133 .1

Cnways

" - 13.4 - 14 .6 - 18 .8 20 .2 zz .6Number of doctors

"

X. FINANCESUnified State budget

19 .8 63 .2 - 66 .618 - 76 .4 80.9 82 .0

IIncome (total)

tall . rub. - 6,654-1 19 11,230 .3 40 20,341 .9 30,573 .5 40,153 .1 49,762 .1 nExpenditures (total)

" - 6,670 .4 19 10,765 .6 90 20,332 .8 30,283 .0 35,666.6 46,947 .9 arFor national economy

"For social and cul-

- 3,436 .5 18 6 ,031 .9 20 15,327 .7 23,161 .3 25,113 .9 27,952 .1CA

tural purposes

"XI. FOREIGN TRADE

416 .1 18 740.3 so 1,290 .7 1,718.7 2,334 .5 3,214 .8

CExports

mil. rub . 1,520 .1 803 .4 923 .7 1,036.4 811 .2 574.9 494 .9 418 .3

Imports

" 1,375 .0 953 .1 88o .6 1,058 .8 1,105 .0 704 .0 348 .2 232 .4

APPENDIX II

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

Weights and Measures

The metric system is officially in use in the U .S.S.R .

Currencyi kopek = oi of a ruble ; i ruble = 51 .46 cents at old parityand 87.13 cents at new parity ; i chervonetz = to gold rubles

Postal RegulationsThe postage rate for letters from the United States to the

Soviet Union is five cents for the first ounce and three centsfor each additional ounce .

Parcels up to 22 pounds may be sent by mail. The parcelpostage rate to the U .S.S.R . is 14 cents per pound. In addition,the following transit charges are payable : parcels up to 2pounds, 21 cents; over 2 pounds, and up to 11 pounds, 35cents ; over 11 and up to 22 pounds, 70 cents . If not sent forcommercial purposes, no special import permit is required . Theusual customs duties must be paid by the recipient . No personin the Soviet Union, however, may receive from abroadduring each year more than the quantity of any particularitem established by the customs regulations of the Soviet Union .5 1 6

Kilogram 2 .2046 lbs .Centner 220 .46 lbs .Metric ton 2,204.6 lbs .Meter 39 .37 inchesKilometer o .621 milesSquare meter 10-764 sq. ft.Hectare 2.471 acres

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

A copy of the list of annual quotas set for each item may beobtained upon request from the American-Russian Chamberof Commerce .

Printed matter may be sent in parcels not exceeding 4 lb .6 oz. a t the rate of 11/2 cents for two ounces. Single copies ofbooks may be sent at the rate of 15/2 cents for every two ounces,providing the books do not weigh more than 6 lb . 9 oz .

Mail may be addressed : Union of Soviet Socialist Republicsor U.S.S.R .

Radio and Cable Rates

Full-rate fast messages : 30 cents per word .(Special rate for extremely urgent messages : 6o cents per

word) .Deferred rate : 1 5 cents per word .Night letter or cable letter : minimum charge of $2 .50 for 25

words, each additional word io cents .Coded messages (five letters) : i8 cents per word .Messages at sea : 21 cents per word.There is a federal tax of ten cents on each message .

517

5 1 8

APPENDIX III .

CHRONICLE OF EVENTS-1 9 1 7-1 935 1

Congresses o f Soviets

9. 1921-December 22-27.

10. 1922-December 23-27.

1917Nov . 7 -Kerensky's Provisional Government over-

thrown by the Revolutionary Military Com-mittee of the Petrograd Soviet . Decrees onpeace, land and establishment of Soviet Gov-ernment adopted at 2nd All-Russian Congressof Soviets .

9 -Soviet Government formed . Lenin electedChairman of Council of People's Commissars .

Dec .

I -Decree on organization of Supreme Councilof National Economy.

27

-Decree on nationalization of banks.31

-Decree on introduction of civil marriage .

I In order to avoid repetition this list does not include the signature or conclusion of tradeagreements, peace treaties, non-aggression pacts, and exchanges of diplomatic notes, theseevents being chronicled in the two lists in Chapter In .

s Only the first ten All-Russian Congresses of Soviets, which represented the country as awhole, are here listed ; the succeeding All-Russian Congresses represented the R .S .F .S .R . alone .

A . All-Russian 2 B. All-Union

I . 1917-June x6-30- 1 . 1922-December 30.

2 . 1917-November 6-g . 2 . 1924-January z6.

3 . 1918-January 23-31- 3 . 1925-May 13-20-

4. Ig18-March 13-16 . 4- 1927-April 18-26 .

5 . 1918-July 4-10 . 5 . 1929-May zo-z8.

6. 1918-November 6-9. 6 . 1931-March 8-17 .

7. 1919-December 5-9 . 7 . 1935-Jan. z8-Feb. 6 .

8. 1920-December 22-29 .

eHRONICLE OF EVENTS

0q

19I8

Jan . 2 -Council of People's Commissars recognizes theindependence of Finland .

16 -Russia declared a Federated Soviet Republic .Feb . 3 -Decree on organization of the Red Army .

8 -Introduction of European (Gregorian) Cal-endar .

i9 -Decree on socialization of land .23 -Decree on organization of permanent Red

Army.March 3 -Peace treaty with central powers signed at

Brest-Litovsk.12 -Moscow becomes capital of the Russian So-

viet Republic.April 5- 6-Japanese and British forces land at Vladivos-

tok .22 -Decree on nationalization of foreign trade .

June 28 -Decree on nationalization of large-scale in-dustry and commerce .

July 2 -Landing of the Anglo-French forces at Mur-mansk .

10 -Congress of Soviets adopts Constitution of theR.S.F.S.R. (Russian Socialist Federated So-viet Republic) .

Aug. 3 -Arrival of American troops in Archangel .Sept . 4 -American troops arrive in Vladivostok .

1 4 -Decree on introduction of metric system inRussia.

Dec . io -Publication of labor code.

1919Jan . i -Proclamation of Soviet regime in White

Russia .

520


June

Nov.

14

14

-Ludwig Martens appointed representative ofthe People's Commissariat for Foreign Af-fairs in the United States .

-Kolchak recognized by Allies as SupremeRuler of Russia .

-Red Army success on northwestern and east-ern front. Yudenitch army that was attackingPetrograd, crushed. Omsk, Kolchak's capitalin Siberia, taken by advancing Soviet forces .

1920

Jan .

16

-Allied Supreme Council decides to lift block-ade of Soviet Russia and to renew trade rela-tions with Russian co-operative organizations .

March 27 -Red Army captures Novorossisk on Black Sea,last Denikin stronghold . Flight of Denikin

30abroad .

-American troops leave Vladivostok.April 28 -Proclamation of Soviet Republic in Azer-

July 7baidzhan (Transcaucasia) .

-Announcement by United States State Depart-

Sept. 2

ment declaring that the restrictions whichhave heretofore stood in the way of trade andcommunication with Soviet Russia are re-moved .

-Revolutionary overturn in Bokhara (Central

Nov. 9Asia) . Bokhara proclaimed a Soviet republic.

-Occupation of Perekop in the Crimea by the

Oct. 12Red Army. Decisive defeat of Wrangel .

-Signing of armistice with Poland .Dec. 2 -Occupation of Erivan by revolutionists and

22proclamation of Soviet Republic in Armenia .

-Adoption of the Electrification Plan(Goelro) .

CHRONICLE OF EVENTS

521

R.T.B.-Machine No. 3-Nov. 8sian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic ; in1924 reorganized into State Bank of the

i 9U.S.S.R .

-Autonomous Crimean Soviet Republic created .Dec .

3 -Arrival in Washington of the Special Delega-tion of the Far Eastern Republic .

1922Feb .

6 -Extraordinary Commission for CombatingCounter-Revolution and Speculation (Cheka)is dissolved and the United State Political De-partment (OGPU) created .

-Transcaucasia declared a Socialist FederatedMarch 12Soviet Republic .

-Genoa Conference with participation of So-April 10-May 19 viet delegation .Oct .

11 -Introduction of the gold-backed "chervonetz"

25currency .

-Japanese troops and remains of White armies

Nov, x4evacuate Vladivostok.

-Amalgamation of the Far Eastern Republicwith Soviet Russia,

1921Jan .

22 -L. Martens sails from New York for Soviet

Feb .

22

Russia under decision of U . S. Department ofLabor of Dec . 15, 1920 .

-Organization of State Planning Commission(Gosplan) .

-Suppression of Kronstadt mutiny .March 18Aug. i i -Council of People's Commissars publishes de-

cision concerning the introduction of the NewEconomic Policy (NEP) .

-Establishment of the State Bank of the Rus-Oct . 18

posing resumption of friendly relations be-tween the Soviet Union and the United States .

1926Aug . 31 -Protest by the Soviet Government to the

Peking Government against an order ofChang Tso-lin confiscating the merchant fleetof the Chinese Eastern Railway .

51Z HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

Dec . 30 -First All-Union Congress of Soviets . Declara-tion proclaiming the establishment of the So-viet Union .

1923

May 1o -Introduction of single agricultural tax .July 6 -Constitution of the Soviet Union ratified .Aug. 21 -Establishment of Chief Concessions Commit-

Dec . 16tee of the Soviet Union .

-Chicherin's note to President Coolidge pro-

1924Jan . 21 -Death of Lenin .Feb . 14 -Currency Reform . Soviet currency put on a

gold basis .May 27 -Organization of the Amtorg Trading Cor-

poration to handle Soviet-American trade .Nov. 21 -English note to the Soviet Government con-

cerning the non-ratification of the generaltreaty of Aug. 8, 1924.

1925April 4 -Northern Sakhalin surrendered by Japan to

representatives of the Soviet Union .May -Organization of "Aviakhim" Society of the

Friends of the Airfleet and of Chemical De-fense. Its name was later changed to "Osoa-viakhim."

pelled from Communist Party .

CHRONICLE OF EVENTS

523

Dec . 17 -General census of the population of theSoviet Union.

1927April 9 -In a note to the Peking Government Litvinoff

demands the liberation of the Soviet employeesarrested in the raid of April 6 . Soviet Embassywithdrawn from Peking pending the satisfac-tion of the demands.

21 -Beginning of construction of the Turkestan-Siberian Railway .

May 4 -Construction of the Dnieper Power Projectstarted .

May 4-23-International Economic Conference at Ge-neva with the participation of the Soviet Union,

27 -Rupture of Anglo-Soviet relations .June 7 -Voikov, Soviet Plenipotentiary Representative

to Poland, assassinated in Warsaw by a Rus-sian monarchist.

Oct . 15-2o-Extraordinary session of Central ExecutiveCommittee of the Union of Soviet SocialistRepublics in connection with the tenth anni-versary of the Revolution, issues manifesto on

25

the gradual introduction of the seven-hourday .

-Soviet Government protests against exclusion

Dec . I

from International Radio-Telegraph Confer-ence in Washington .

-Soviet disarmament proposal submitted by M .

18

Litvinoff at Geneva Preparatory Conferenceon Disarmament.

-98 leading members of the Opposition ex -


1928March 6 -The United States Secretary of the Treasury

May

forbids the Assay Office to accept a shipmentof Soviet gold amounting to $5,000 ,000 -

15

-Interruption of German-Soviet trade negotia-tions in connection with the arrest of Germanengineers in the Donetz coal basin .

23

-Soviet complete disarmament proposal rejected .Soviet delegation submits new project for par-tial disarmament.

18- -Trial of 54 engineers accused of sabotage of

5 the Donetz coal mines, three GermansJuly

Julyincluded .

12-13-Soviet ice-breaker Krassin saves seven members

Aug.of the Nobile Expedition .

27 -The Soviet Union adheres to the KelloggAnti-War Pact .

1929April 23 -The maximum program for the Five-Year

July 1o

Plan of economic development for the periodfrom 1928-29 to 1932-33 is ratified by theCouncil of People's Commissars .

-Seizure of Chinese-Eastern Railway by Chi-

Aug . 26nese authorities.

-Decree on continuous working week for all

Sept . 24State institutions and industrial undertakings .

-Decree on introduction of five-day week in

Oct . 16

Soviet industrial enterprises and offices, withone day out of every five for rest .

-Tadzhikistan proclaimed a Constituent Re-public of the Union of Soviet Socialist Re-publics, increasing the number of FederalStates in the Soviet Union from six to seven .

conference of industrial managers held inMoscow.

CHRONICLE OF EVENTS

5 2 5

Nov. i -"Land of Soviets" arrives in New York, com-pleting 20,ooo-kilometer flight from Moscow .

Dec . 7 -All-Union .Commissariat for Agriculture co-ordinating the work of the agricultural com-missariats of the constituent republics, estab-lished .

1930Jan . 30 -Decree on Credit Reform .March i -New single agricultural tax law enacted .May i -Completion and official opening of Turksib

Railway .Aug . 13 -Decree providing for introduction of univer-

sal compulsory primary education throughoutthe U .S.S.R. in 1 930-3 1 -

Sept. 20 -Fiscal year changed to coincide with calendaryear, beginning Jan . 1, 1931 .

Nov . 22 -Commissariat for Domestic and ForeignTrade reorganized into two separate commis-sariats, the Commissariat for Internal Supplyand the Commissariat for Foreign Trade .

Dec . 24 -"Committee of Fulfillment" of Council ofPeople's Commissars established .

1931Jan . 30 -Commissariat for Water Transportation estab-

lished .May 18 -Litvinoff proposes economic non-aggression

pact to League of Nations commission forthe study of a European Union meeting atGeneva.

June 23 -Stalin speaks of new economic tasks before

526


Aug.

i -Decree on improvement of living and materialconditions of engineers and technicians.

Oct. i -Introduction of piecework and bonus systemand large wage increases in coal and steel in-dustries in accordance with decree of Sept . 20 .

Nov . 21 -Decree establishing six-day week, with day ofrest every sixth day, for all institutions exceptthose serving cultural and social needs or con-nected with enterprises in continuous opera-tion .

1932Jan .

I -Gorky (Nizhni Novgorod) automobile plantstarts operations.

5 -Decree reorganizing Supreme EconomicCouncil into three Commissariats : for HeavyIndustry, Light Industry and Lumber In-dustry.

31

-First blast furnace blown in at Magnitogorsk .May 20 -Decree facilitating free sale of agricultural

products by collectives and individual peasants .Aug. 25 -Col. Hugh L. Cooper, chief consulting engi-

neer of Dnieprostroy, and members of staffdecorated by Soviet Government .

Sept .

3 -Decree prohibiting withdrawal of land fromagricultural collectives.

Oct. I -Commissariat for Grain and Livestock StateFarms established . Ice-breaker "Sibiriakov"reaches Bering Strait, completing the north-east passage from Archangel through theArctic Ocean in one season .

10 -Formal dedication of Dnieprostroy hydro-electric station .

goods ; Soviet retaliatory measures revoked ;prison sentences of British engineers com-muted and engineers released ; British Gov-ernment proposes resumption of negotiationsfor trade agreement .

CHRONICLE OF EVENTS

5 27

Nov.

Dec .

15

-Decree permitting discharge of workers absentwithout justifiable reason.

31

-First Five-Year Plan fulfilled in four andone-quarter years .

1 933

Jan . 1 -Beginning of second Five-Year Plan .11

-Decree establishing political departments formachine-tractor stations and state farms .

19 -Decree replacing the system of grain procure-ments formerly in force by a system of fixedquotas of grain to be delivered to the state .

April 12-18-British engineers' trial in Moscow .22 -Decree on retaliatory restrictive measures

June 1

taken by Soviet Government in answer toBritish embargo on Soviet imports .

-Cheliabinsk tractor plant starts mass produc-

15tion .

-Decree granting members of agricultural

20

communes the right to own cows, small live-stock and poultry for personal use .

-Draft protocol on economic non-aggression

23

submitted by Soviet delegation to World Eco-nomic Conference .

-Decree abolishing Commissariat for Labor

July I

and turning over its functions to All-UnionCentral Council of Trade Unions .

-British government lifts embargo on Soviet

578


io -Decree establishing political departments forrailroads.

Aug .

2 -Official opening of Baltic-White Sea Canal.Sept . 30 -Soviet Red Army Stratostat, U.S.S.R ., makes

successful ascent to stratosphere, attaining aheight of i q kilometers.

Oct . i o -President Roosevelt invites M . I. Kalinin,Chairman of the Central Executive Com-mittee of the U.S.S.R ., to send a representa-tive to discuss outstanding questions betweenthe United States and the Union of SovietSocialist Republics .

17 -Chairman Kalinin accepts invitation and an-nounces Maxim Litvinoff, People's Commis-sar for Foreign Affairs, will carry on dis-cussions with President Roosevelt .

Nov .

7 -Maxim Litvinoff arrives in the United States .16 -Normal diplomatic relations established be-

tween the United States and the Soviet Unionby an exchange of notes between PresidentRoosevelt and Commissar Litvinoff at theWhite House .

17 -Appointment of William C . Bullitt as firstAmerican Ambassador to the Soviet Unionannounced .

iq -Appointment of Alexander A. Troyanovskyas Soviet Ambassador to the United States an-nounced.

Dec. i i

-Decree providing special privileges for popu-lation of Far Eastern Region.

18 -Bobriky (Stalinogorsk) chemical combinestarts operations .

CHRONICLE OF EVENTS 529

30

-Publication of basic figures and outline ofsecond Five-Year Plan .

1 934Jan .

7 -Ambassador Troyanovsky arrives in Wash-ington .

13

-Decree specifying training requirements forteachers.

21 -Capital of the Ukrainian S .S.R. transferredfrom Kharkov to Kiev. First section of Khar-kov turbo-generator works opened .

24 -Secretary of Treasury Morgenthau lifts vari-ous restrictions hampering Soviet-Americantrade, revoking previous Treasury orders withregard to Soviet gold shipments and importa-tion of lumber, pulpwood and safety matches .

26 -Seventeenth Congress of the CommunistParty of the Union of Soviet Socialist Re-publics opens .

Feb . 10 -Concluding session of Seventeenth Congressof the Communist Party passes resolution em-bodying schedules of second Five-Year Plan .

11 -Decree ordering reorganization of the Com-mittee of Fulfillment into the Commission ofSoviet Control, under the Council of People'sCommissars ; the People's Commissariat ofWorkers' and Peasants' Inspection liquidatedand its apparatus transferred to the neworgan .

1g -Design for Palace of Soviets accepted by thegovernment construction commission .

March 16 -Decree replacing multiplicity of direction byindividual management in industrial enter-prises .


April 12 -The motorship KIM, first Soviet vessel to sailto the United States, arrives in New York.

12 -Completion of rescue of Chelyuskin partyfrom Arctic ice floes .

1 5 -New state internal loan of 3.5 billion rublesfloated .

May 7 -Birobidzhan declared an Autonomous JewishRegion .

i6 -Decree providing for three types of lowerand secondary schools. Decrees providing forreorganization of methods of teaching .

22 -Navigation opened on Baltic-White SeaCanal .

June 3 -Maxim Litvinoff submits to the DisarmamentConference a resolution embodying the Sovietproposal for the creation of a permanentbody to safeguard peace .

July io -All-Union Commissariat for Internal Affairsformed .OGPU abolished with its judicial functionstransferred to regular courts .

20 -New compulsory insurance law passed.29 -Commissariat for Internal Supply divided into

two separate commissariats-f or internal tradeand the food industry .

Aug. io -Decree authorizing formation of Commis-sariats for Local Industry in the constituentrepublics .

17 -First Soviet Writers' Congress opened .24 -Finish of International Diesel contest .

Sept . 3 -Decree raising training requirement for phy-sicians .

5-

CHRONICLE OF EVENTS S3t

9-Plenary meeting of All-Union Council ofTrade Unions at which reorganization of

Feb.21-Mar.2-First international film festival in Moscow .

trade unions is decreed .i o15

-Mendeleyev Chemical Congress opened .-Union of Soviet. Socialist Republics invited to

18

become a member of League of Nations bythirty countries ; replies accepting the invita-tion .

-Formal induction of Union of Soviet Social-

20

ist Republics into League ; Litvinoff makesfirst speech at League Assembly .

-Soviet ice-breaker Litke completes northwest

28

Arctic passage from Vladivostok to Mur-mansk .

-Official opening of Kramatorsk heavy ma-

Dec . ichinery plant .

-S. M . Kirov, member of the Communist

7Party "Politburo," assassinated in Leningrad .

-Decree abolishing bread card system an-

23nounced, to take effect January 1, 1 935 .

-Cancellation of collective farm debts, amount-ing to 435,639,000 rubles, decreed .

1 935Jan . 25 -Death of V. V. Kuibyshev .Feb . 6 -Resolution on direct elections, secret ballot

Feb .

and equal representation adopted by VIIthCongress of Soviets.

11-17-2nd Congress of Collective Farm ShockWorkers held. New constitution for artelsadopted .


March 14 -Close of second Moscow international chesstournament .

26 -Negotiations concluded at Tokyo for sale ofChinese Eastern Railway .

27-31 -Visit of Anthony Eden to Moscow, where heconferred with Stalin, Litvinoff and Molotov .

May 5 -Third Year of Second Five-Year Plan Loanissued.

-Tenth anniversary of establishment of SovietSakhalin.

15 -Opening of first line of Moscow subway.18 -Destruction in an accident of the "Maxim

Gorky" plane.June 26 -Flight of stratosphere balloon "USSR-i-bis ."July io -Ten-Year plan for reconstruction of Moscow

published .25 -Submarine B-3 sunk in Gulf of Finland .

Aug . 9 -Opening of Fifteenth International Physio-logical Congress in Leningrad .

12 -Decree announced granting amnesty toformer collective farm officials and workers .

22 -Thirty-four Turkmen horsemen arrive inMoscow after a three months' journey of2,500 miles from Ashkhabad .

25 -Ambassador Bullitt hands note to ActingCommissar for Foreign Affairs Krestinskyprotesting against activities of Comintern .

27 -Acting Commissar Krestinsky replies toAmerican note .

Sept. 4 -Decree prohibiting discrimination in schoolson account of social origin .

9 -Collectives receive deeds to land .

CHRONICLE OF EVENTS 533

io -Decree issued authorizing work on two newwharves and river ports for Moscow in prepar-ation for opening of Moscow-Volga Canal .

t o -Opening of Third International Congress onIran Art and Archeology .

16 -War games begin at Kiev .26 -Abolition of system of ration cards for meat,

fish, fats, sugar and potatoes, to take effectOctober 1, 1 935-

28 -Ice-breaker "Sadko" returns to Archangelafter an 85-day voyage in the polar seas dur-ing which several new islands were discovered .

Oct . 3 -Decree issued providing for reorganization ofco-operatives, which are to confine their futureactivities entirely to village trade .

13 -Ambassador Yurenev of the U .S .S.R. proteststo Hirota, Japanese Foreign Minister, againstmilitary invasions of Soviet territory by Man-chukuoan patrols commanded by Japaneseofficers .

15

-Reopening of bridge across Dniester River,connecting the U.S .S.R. and Rumania .

APPENDIX IV .

BOOKS ABOUT THE U.S .S .R. IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The following list is given in chronological order

"Ten Days that Shook the World," by John Reed . International Publishers,New York, x919. $1 .50 .

"Russia in 1919," by Arthur Ransome . B. W. Huebsch (now the Viking Press),New York, 1919.

"The Bullitt Mission to Russia ." Testimony before the Committee on ForeignRelations, United States Senate, of Wm. C. Bullitt. B. W. Huebsch (nowthe Viking Press), New York, 1919 .

"Fighting Without a War." An Account of Military Intervention in NorthRussia, by Ralph Albertson . Harcourt, Brace and Howe, New York, 19zo .

"The Russian Workers' Republic," by H . N. Brailsford . Harper and Brothers,New York, 1921 .

"Through the Russian Revolution," by Albert Rhys Williams. Boni andLiveright, New York, 1921 .

"The Russian Soviet Republic," by Edward A . Ross. The Century Co., NewYork, 1923 .

"The New Theatre and Cinema in Russia," by Huntly Carter. InternationalPublishers, New York, 1925 .

"Broken Earth," by Maurice Hindus . International Publishers, New York,1926.

"Oil Imperialism-The International Struggle for Petroleum," by LouisFischer . International Publishers, New York, 1926.

"Modern Russian Composers," by Leonid Sabaneyef International Pub-lishers, New York, 1927 .

"The Russian Land," by Albert Rhys Williams. New Republic, Inc ., NewYork, 1927 .

"Russia After Ten Years," Report of American Trade Union Delegation toU.S .S .R. International Publishers, New York, 1927.

534

BIBLIOGRAPHY 535

Vanguard Studies of Soviet Russia . The Vanguard Press, New York, 1927-28 :"How the Soviets Work," by H . N . Brailsford .-"The Economic Organ-ization of the Soviet Union," by Scott Nearing and Jack Hardy .-"Vil-lage Life Under the Soviets," by Karl Borders.-"Religion Under theSoviets," by Julius F . Hecker.-"Soviet Russia and Her Neighbors," byR. Page Arnot.-"Soviet Trade Unions," by Robert W. Dunn.-"Womenin Soviet Russia," by Jessica Smith .-"New Schools in New Russia," byLucy L. W. Wilson.-"Health Work in Soviet Russia," by Anna JHaines.-"Liberty Under the Soviets," by Roger N. Baldwin .-"TheJews and Other Minor Nationalities Under the Soviets," by AvrahmYarmolinsky.

"Soviet Russia in the Second Decade" ; Edited by Stuart Chase, Robert Dunnand R. G. Tugwell . John Day Co., New York, 1928.

"Present Day Russia," by Ivy Lee . Macmillan Company, New York, 1gz8 .

"Labor Protection in Soviet Russia," by George M . Price . InternationalPublishers, New York, 1928 . $I .oo.

"Illustrated History of the Russian Revolution," 1917-1927 . Ten Years'Progress Reported by Authoritative Russian Leaders, 2 vole . Interna-tional Publishers, New York, 1gz8 .

"Russian Economic Development Since the Revolution," by Maurice Dobb .E. P. Dutton & Co ., New York, 192.8 .

"Guide Book to the Soviet Union ." International Publishers, New York,1928 .

"American Policy Toward Russia Since 1917," by Dr. Fred L. Schuman .International Publishers, New York, 1928 .

"Dreiser Looks at Russia," by Theodore Dreiser . Horace Liveright, NewYork, 1928 .

"Lenin," by Valerie Marcu. Macmillan Company, New York, 1928 ."Impressions of Soviet Russia and the Revolutionary World," by John Dewey .

New Republic, Inc., New York, 1929 ."Civic Training in Soviet Russia," by Samuel N. Harper. University of

Chicago Press, Chicago, 1929 ."Soviet Union and Peace ." A collection of official documents . 1917-1929 .

International Publishers, New York, 1929 ."Revolution of 1917," by v . I. Lenin . Volume XX of Collected Works-

2 V018. International Publishers, New York, 1929 ."The Soviet Union Looks Ahead ." The Five-Year Plan for Economic Con-

struction. Horace Liveright, New York, 1929 ."The Red Star in Samarkand," by Anna Louise Strong. Coward McCann,

New York, 1929 ."Humanity .Uprooted," by Maurice Hindus. Jonathan Cape and Harrison

Smith, New York, 1929 .

536


"Voices of October-Art and Literature in Soviet Russia," by Joseph Freeman,Joshua Kunitz and Louis Lozowick. The Vanguard Press, New York,

1930. $4.00.

"The New Education in the Soviet Republic," by Albert P . Pinkevitch . John

Day Company, New York, 1929 .

"Soviet Economic Development and American Business," by Saul G . Bron .

Horace Liveright, New York, 5930.

"Soviet Russia-A Living Record and a History," by W . H. Chamberlain .

Little, Brown & Company, Boston, 1930. $5-00-

"A Ford Crosses Soviet Russia," by George S. Counts. Stratford Co ., Boston,

Mass., 1930 .

"The Soviets in World Affairs," 2 vols ., by Louis Fischer . Jonathan Capeand Harrison Smith, New York, 5930. $50.00 .

"Memories of Lenin," by Nadezhda K . Krupskaya . International Publishers,New York, 1930 . $1 .5o .

"The Five-Year Plan of the Soviet Union," by G. T. Grinko . International

Publishers, New York, 5930. $3 .50 .

"The Russian Experiment," by Arthur Feiler . Harcourt, Brace and Company,New York, 5930. $3.00 .

"Wages and Regulation of Conditions of Labour in the U.S .S .R .," by S .

Zagorsky. P . S. King & Son, Ltd ., London, 5930 . $l .oo. Distributedin United States by World Peace Foundation, Boston, Mass .

"Social Economic Planning in the Union of Socialist Republics," by V . V.

Obolensky-Ossinsky, S . L . Ronin, A . Gayster, I. A. Kraval . InternationalIndustrial Relations Association, New York, 5935 .

"Employment and Unemployment in Pre-war and Soviet Russia," by Susan M .Kingsbury and Mildred Fairchild . International Industrial RelationsAssociation, New York, 1931 .

"Piatiletka : Russia's Five-Year Plan," by Michael Farbman . New RepublicInc., New York, 593! . $1 .00.

"The Soviet Challenge to America," by George S . Counts. John Day Com-pany, New York, 593! . $4.00.

"The Challenge of Russia," by Sherwood Eddy. Farrar and Rinehart, NewYork, 5935 . $2 .50 .

"The Economic Life of Soviet Russia," by Calvin B . Hoover. The MacmillanCompany, New York, 193! . $3 .00 .

"Russia's Productive System," by Emile Burns . E. P. Dutton & Co ., NewYork, 5931 .

"The Red Trade Menace," by H. R. Knickerbocker, Dodd, Mead andCompany, New York, 1931 . $2 .50 .

BIBLIOGRAPHY 537

"Soviet Foreign Trade : Menace or Promise," by Budish and Shipman. HoraceLiveright, New York, 1931 . $z.50.

"Progress in the Soviet Union ." Charts and diagrams compiled by AlbertA. Johnson. A. A . Johnson and Associates, Springfield, Mass ., 1931 .

"Making Bolsheviks," by Samuel N. Harper . University of Chicago Press,Chicago, 1931 . $z.oo.

"The Road to the Grey Pamir," by Anna Louise Strong . Little, Brown andCo., Boston, 1931 . $3 .00.

"Why Recognize Russia?" by Louis Fischer . Jonathan Cape and HarrisonSmith, New York, 1931- $2.00.

"New Russia's Primer-The Story of the Five-Year Plan," by M . Ilin.Houghton Mifflin Co ., Boston and New York, 1931 . $1 .75 .

"Red Bread," by Maurice Hindus. Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, NewYork, 1931 . $3 .50.

"Pan-Sovietism," by Bruce Hopper. Houghton Mifflin and Co ., Boston andNew York, 1931 . $2 .50.

"Economic Handbook of the Soviet Union." American-Russian Chamber ofCommerce, New York, 1931 . $1 .00.

"The Soviet Planned Economic Order," by William Henry Chamberlain .World Peace Foundation, Boston, 1931 . $2 .50 . (Student Edition, 75c) .

"The Red Fog Lifts ; A Wall Street Man Visits Soviet Russia," by AlbertMuldavin. D. Appleton and Co., New York, 1931- $2 .00.

"The Soviet Conquers Wheat," by Anna Louise Strong . Henry Holt asdCo., New York, 1931 . $2 .50 .

"Red Villages : The Five-Year Plan in Agriculture," by Y. A. Yakovlev. In-ternational Publishers, New York, 1931 . $1 .50.

"The Success of the Five-Year Plan," by V . M. Molotov, Chairman Councilof People's Commissars, U .S .S .R. International Publishers, New York,1931 . $1 .z5 .

"America's Siberian Adventure," by Major-General William S . Graves, withforeword by Hon . Newton D . Baker . Jonathan Cape and HarrisonSmith, New York, 1931 . $3 .50 .

"Russia and the Soviet Union in the Far East," by Victor A . Yakhontoff .Coward McCann, New York, 1931 . $5 .00.

"Recognition of Soviet Russia ." Compiled by Buehler Maxwell and Pflaum.H. W. Wilson Co., New York, 1931 . $2.¢0.

"An Editor Looks at Russia," by Ray Long . Ray Long and Richard R .Smith, New York. $r .oo .

"Eyes on Russia," by Margaret Bourke-White. Simon and Schuster, NewYork. $5.00.

"History of Russia," by M . Pokrovsky. International Publishers, New York,1931 • $3 .50.

538

HANDBOOK OF TFIE SOVIET UNION

"My Russian Venture," by Mrs . Cecil Chesterton . J . B . Lippincott Co ., NewYork . $2 .so.

"Soviet Policy in Public Finance, 1917-1928 ." By Gregory Y. Sokolnikovand Associates, Stanford University Press, Stanford University, Calif .$4 .00.

"Is Soviet Trade a Menace?" By W. P . Coates. Anglo-Russian Parliamen-tary Committee, London, 1931 .

"Soviet Administration of Criminal Law," by Judah Zelitch . University ofPennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1931 . $5 .00 .

"Working for the Soviets," by Walter Arnold Rukeyser. Covici-Friede, NewYork, 1932. $3.00 .

"New Minds: New Men?" By Thomas Woody. Macmillan Co ., New York,1932 . $4.00.

"Russia," by Hans von Eckardt . Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1932 . $7 .50 .

"Russia : Market or Menace?" by Thomas D. Campbell. Longmans, Greenand Co., New York, 1932 . $2 .00

"Protection of Women and Children in Soviet Russia," by Alice WithrowField. E. P . Dutton and Co ., New York, 1932 . $3 .00 .

"Rural Russia Under the Old Regime," by Geroid Tanquary Robinson. Long-mans, Green and Co., New York, 1932 . $4.00

"This Is Russia," by George Earle Raiguel and William Kistler Huff. ThePenn Publishing Co ., Philadelphia, 1932 . $5 .00.

"Machines and Men in Russia," by Louis Fischer. Harrison Smith, NewYork, $2 .50 .

"The Soviet Worker," by Joseph Freeman . Liveright, Inc., New York, 1932.$2 .50 .

"A Scientist Among the Soviets," by Julian Huxley. Harper and Brothers,New York, 1932. $1 .50 .

"A Pocket Guide to the Soviet Union ." Intourist, Moscow, 1932 . $1 .00."Soviet Scene," by Frederick Griffin . The Macmillan Co . of Canada, To-

ronto, 1932. $2.5o .

"The New Russia"-Between the First and Second Five-Year Plans," intro-duction by E . M. House, edited by Jerome Davis. The John Day Co.,New York, 1933 . $2 .50.

"An American Looks at Russia," by George A . Burrell . The Stratford Co .,Boston, 1932 . $2 .50.

"The Red Flag of Ararat," by A. Y. Yeghenian . The Woman's Press, NewYork, 1932. $2.00 .

"Red Virtue-Human Relationships in the New Russia," by Ella Winter.Harcourt, Brace and Co ., New York, 1933. $3 .00.

"In Place of Profit," by Harry F . Ward. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York,1933- $2.50.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

539

"Summary of the Fulfillment of the First Five-Year Plan." State PlanningCommission, Moscow, U .S .S .R., 1933 . Paper, $1 .00 ; cloth, $1 .50 .

"First to Go Back," by Irina Skariatina . Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapo-

lis, 1933- $2 .75 ."Red Medicine-Socialized Health in Soviet Russia," by Sir Arthur News-

holme and John Kingsbury. Doubleday, Doran & Company, New York,1933 . $2 .50.

"The Great Offensive," by Maurice Hindus. Harrison Smith and RobertHaas, New York, 1933 . $3.00.

"The United States and the Soviet Union." Committee on Russian-AmericanRelations. The American Foundation, New York, 1933 .

"Woman in Soviet Russia," by Fannina W. Halle . Translated from the Ger-man . The Viking Press, New York, 1933 . $4 .50 .

"Soviet Russia, 1917-1933," by Vera Micheles Dean . Published jointly bythe World Peace Foundation, Boston, and the Foreign Policy Association,New York, 1933 . Cloth, $0.50 ; paper, $0 .25 .

"Protection of Motherhood and Childhood in the Soviet Union," by Dr . EstherConus. Moscow, 1933 . $0.35.

"Youth in Soviet Russia," by Klaus Mehnert . Translated from the German .George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., London, 1933 .

"Soviet Economic Policy in the East," by Violet Conolly . Oxford University,London, 1933 .

"Duranty Reports Russia," by Walter Duranty . The Viking Press, NewYork, 1934. $2.75.

"Lenin," by Ralph Fox . Harcourt Brace Co., New York, 1934 . $2 .50 ."Russia, Youth and the Present Day World," by Frankwood E . Williams, M.D.

Farrar & Rinehart, New York, 1934- $2.50."My Russian Neighbors," by Alexander Wicksteed . Whittlesey House, New

York, 1934. $1 .75."Russian-American Relations, 1917-1933 : An Interpretation," by Malbone W .

Graham . Reprint of an article published in The American Political Sci-ence Review, June, 1934.

"Legal Status of Foreigners in the U.S .S .R., by Prof. M. A. Plotkin,U .S .S .R. Chamber of Commerce, Moscow, 1934 $0.75 .

"The Soviet State," by Bertram W . Maxwell . Steves and Wayburn, Topeka,Kansas, 1934.

"The Second Five-Year Plan," by W. P. Coates and Zelda K. Coates, Methuenand Co., London, 1934.

"The Traveler's Russia," by Burton Holmes . G. P. Putnam's Sons, NewYork, 1934. $3 .50.

"The Planned Economy of Soviet Russia," by Edward Lamb . Dorrance andCo., Inc ., Philadelphia, 1 934- $ 1 .75.

"Where the Ghetto Ends-Jews in Soviet Russia," by Leon Dennen . AlfredH. King, Inc ., New York, 1934. $2.5o.

"The Bolshevik Revolution, 1917-18" Documents and Materials, by JamesBunyan and H. H. Fisher, Stanford University Press, California, 1934 .


"Changing Asia," by Egon Erwin Kisch . Alfred A . Knopf, New York, 1934.$3 .00 .

"Moscow Dialogues," by Julius Hecker, Ph .D. John Wiley and Sons, NewYork, 1934- $3 .00 .

VOKS Illustrated Bulletins . Published by the Society for Cultural Relationswith Foreign Countries, Moscow .

$1 .00."Russia's Iron Age," by William Henry Chamberlain . Little, Brown and Co .,

Boston, 1934- $4.00.

The New Soviet Library . G. P . Putnam's Sons, New York, 1 935-1. "Supply and Trade in the U .S .S .R.," by W . Nodel . 1935-

11 . "Health Protection in the U.S.S.R .," by N . A . Semashko. 1935 .III. "The Soviet Theater," by P . A. Markov . 1935 .

VIII . "Foreign Trade in the U .S .S .R .," by J. W. Yanson . 1935 .X. "The Unified Transport System of the U .S .S .R.," by K. N. Tver-

skoi. 1935 .XII. "Science and Education in the U .S .S .R.," by Professor A . Pinke-

vich . 1935 ."The Foreign Policy of the Powers," Chapter on Soviet Russia by Karl Ra-

dek . Council on Foreign Relations, New York, 1935 . $1 .50."Soviet Russia Fights Crime," by Lenka Von Koerber . E. P. Dutton and

Co., New York, 1935 . $3 .00 ."Turkestan Solo," by Ella K. Maillart . Translated from the French. G. P .

Putnam Sons, New York, 1935 . $3.50 ."Soviet Journey," ' by Louis Fischer. Smith and Haas, New York, 1935 .

$2 .50."Religion and Communism," by Julius F . Hecker. John Wiley & Sons, New

York, 1935 . $3.00."Outline History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union," by N . Popov .

International Publishers, New York, 1935 . 2 vols . $6 .oo ."Socialism Victorious ." Addresses Made at the 17th Congress of the Commu-

nist Party of the Soviet Union . International Publishers, New York,1935 .

"Russian justice," by Mary Stevenson Callcott . The Macmillan Company,New York, 1935. $3 .00 .

1 : z . "The School in the U.S.S.R ." 1933 . $0-70-3 . "The Higher School in the U .S .S .R ." 1933- $$0-50-4- "Ethnography, Folklore and Archeology in the U .S .S .R ." 1933-

$0-90.5 . "Scientific Construction in the U .S .S .R ." 1 933-6 . "The Theater in the U .S .S .R." 1934- $$0-50-

7--8- "Literature of the Peoples of the U .S .S .R .," 1934-1934-9--lo. "Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Art in the U.S.S.R ."

$0 .50."The U.S .S .R. in Figures ." State Planning Commission, Moscow, 1934 .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

541

"Factory, Family and Woman in the Soviet Union," by Susan H . Kingsburyand Mildred Fairchild . G. P. Putnam's, New York, 1935 . $3-50-

"I Change Worlds-The Remaking of an American," by Anna Louise Strong .Henry Holt & Co ., New York, 1 935- $3 .00 .

"Dawn Over Samarkand-The Rebirth of Central Asia," by Joshua Kunitz .Covici, Friede, Inc ., New York, 1935 . $3.50.

"The Soviet Union and International Law," by T . A . Taracouzio . The Mac-millan Company, New York, 1935 . $7. 50 .

"Guide Book to the Soviet Union." International Publishers, New York,1935 . $3 .00.

"Summary of the First Five-Year Plan" (Final Edition) . International Pub-lishers, New York, 1935 . $r.z5 .

"The Second Five-Year Plan," (State Planning Commission of the U .S .S .R .),International Publishers, New York, 1935- $$ 1 - 2 S-

"Problems of Soviet Literature," Reports by Gorky, Bukharin, Radek, Zhdanovand Stetsky at the First Soviet Writers' Congress. International Publish-ers, New York, 1935 . $1.50.

"Art in the U .S .S .R .," Studio Publications, New York, 1935 . Cloth, $4 .5o ;Paper, $3 .50.

"The Voyage of the Chelyuskin," by members of the expedition, translated byAlec Brown . The Macmillan Company, New York, 1935 . $3 .50.

"Portraits and Pamphlets," by Karl Radek . Robert McBride, New York,1935. $2.50 .

"Belomor-The Building of the Great Baltic-White Sea Canal," by Russia's"Reforged" Prisoners . Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, New York,1935. $3 .00 .

"Men and Mountains," by M. Ilin . Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1935 . $2.50."Stalin," by Henri Barbusse, translated by Vyvyan Holland . Illustrated . The

Macmillan Company, New York, 1935 . $3 .0o ."The Russian Revolution," by William Henry Chamberlain . The Macmillan

Company, 1935. 2 vols . $10.00 .

"Soviet Trade from the Pacific to the Levant," by Violet Conolly . OxfordUniversity Press, London, 1935 .

"The Soviet Union and World-Problems," Samuel N . Harper, Editor . HarrisFoundation Lectures . The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1935 .$2 .50.

"Marxism and Modern Thought," by Bukharin, Deborin, Uranovsky, Tiumenievand others . Harcourt, Brace & Co ., Inc., New York, 1935 . $3-00-

"I Write as I Please," by Walter Duranty. Simon and Schuster, New York,1935- $3.00 .


Foreign Policy Reports, by Vera Micheles Dean .Foreign Policy Association, New York :

"Russia and China in Manchuria," 1929-"Russia's Agrarian Problem,"193o-"The Foreign Trade Policy of the Soviet Government," 193o-"The Soviet Union and Japan in the Far East," r93z-"The PoliticalStructure of the Soviet State" (z parts), r93z-"The Outlook forSoviet-American Relations," x933-"The Soviet Union as a EuropeanPower," 1933"The Outlook for Soviet-American Trade," x934-"Soviet Russia : 19x7-x935" (World Affairs Pamphlet No . z, revised),1935 .

Information regarding books published in the Soviet Union may be obtainedfrom the American-Russian Chamber of Commerce, z61 Fifth Avenue, theBookniga Corporation, 2S5 Fifth Avenue, or International Publishers, 381Fourth Avenue, New York City.

_ Autonomousprovinces

APPENDIX V.

AzerbaijanSSRN17

TAJ I K S.S.R.'Jc

Georgian S.SR

I6

TRANSCAUCASUS* SF5R

t5

TURKMEN 5SR .

WHITERUSSIAN S.SR.

® 4

%~

40

®® W ago3 •

.35 • • • • . ®

A2• National

0

Autonomous

36republics .

32 38 3s do a~

region s .

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS OF THE U.S.S.R .The emblems of the seven constituent republics of the Soviet Union aregrouped about the emblem of the U .S.S .R. (The emblems of the threerepublics of the Transcaucasian Federation are also shown) . Other ad-ministrative divisions are as follows : Autonomous Republics : (I) Karelian,(2) Chuvash, (3) Udmurt, (4) Bashkirian, (5) Mordovsk, (6) Tartar,(7) Volga German, (8) Daghestan, (9) Crimean, (I0) Kazak, (11) Kara-kalpakian, (12) Kirghiz, (13) Buryat-Mongolian, (14) Yakutian, (I5)Moldavian, (16) Ajarian, (17) Abkhazian, (I8) Nakhichevansk . Autono-mous Provinces: (19) South Ossetian, (20) Nagorno-Karabakhsk, (21)Gorno-Badakhshan, (22) Komi, (23) Mariisk, (24) Kalmyksk, (25) Ady-geisk, (26) Checheno-Ingushsk, (27) Kabardino-Balkarian, (28) Kara-chayev, (29) North Ossetian, (30) Cherkess, (31) Khakassk, (32) Oirot,(33) Jewish. National Regions : (34) Nenets, (35) Komi-Permyatsk, (36)Ostyak-Vogulsk, (37) Yamalsk, (38) Vitimo-Olekminsk, (39) Taimyr, (40)Evenkisk, (41) Koryak, (42) Chukofsk .

O

R.S.FSR.

543

APPENDIX VI.

THE AMERICAN-RUSSIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

The American-Russian Chamber of Commerce was incorporated on January22, 1916, and was reorganized on June is, 1926. The object of the Chamber,provided by thr certificate of incorporation, is "to foster trade, encourage andgenerally promote the economic, commercial, and industrial relations betweenthe United States of America and Russia ."

In accordance with its general purpose, the American-Russian Chamber ofCommerce has taken an active part since its reorganization in every phaseof the development of trade between the United States and the Soviet Union .It maintains headquarters in New York with a branch office in Moscow . Theseoffices serve the interests of member firms in matters of Soviet-Americantrade and furnish trade information and statistical data regarding the SovietUnion. They cooperate with and are at the disposal of officials and representa-tives of the United States Government in matters affecting American-Soviettrade.The American-Russian Chamber of Commerce is the only trade organization

exclusively devoted to the promotion of American trade with the Soviet Union,and because of its consistent record of constructive service, enjoys the confi-dence of American business and its work in solving various problems con-fronting this trade has received public commendation from high official sourcesin the Soviet Union .

The Chamber of Commerce represents and is able to bring the unifiedinfluence of American business men to bear on those special phases of Ameri-can-Soviet relations which require community of action by all engaged in thistrade.

New York OfficeThe New York office maintains an active service to provide its members

with current trade and economic data on the Soviet Union and all phases ofAmerican-Russian trade .

The Chamber receives and distributes to its membership important Russiantrade and economic publications . In addition, it maintains an up-to-datecollection of official Soviet books and periodicals containing statistical data,government regulations, the rights of foreigners in the U .S .S .R., etc. Thesepublications are kept on file in the Chamber's office, where they are readilyavailable for the use of members.

To assist member firms interested in using direct mail promotional methodsto acquaint the Soviet Union with their products, the Chamber has recently

5 44

APPENDIX 545

prepared new and up-to-date lists of planning, producing and buying agenciesthroughout the Soviet Union . These lists, comprising names and addressesof several thousand Soviet organizations, are available to members .

The Chamber arranges meetings in the principal cities of the United Statesat which addresses regarding American-Russian trade are given by Americanbusiness men and economists and by representatives of the Soviet Union .

A statistical and news summary is received at frequent intervals from theMoscow office of the Chamber. This includes official reports on industrialproduction, agricultural development, railway operation and construction, etc .,as well as complete tabulations of the export and import trade figures of theU.S.S.R. Members may also secure, on request, more detailed informationregarding specific industries .

Frequent bulletins are issued to members concerning all phases of Sovieteconomic life and of trade between the United States and the Soviet Union .Special reports are issued on individual industries and bulletins are publishedat intervals listing arrivals and expected arrivals in the United States ofSoviet buying and technical commissions ; departures of Soviet commercialrepresentatives ; ships due to carry cargoes to the Soviet Union, with dates ofsailings ; full cargoes of merchandise and partial cargoes of Soviet exports tothe United States, etc.

On a number of occasions special committees have been designated to makeinvestigations and surveys concerning specific phases of American-Russiantrade. Among the reports prepared as a result of such surveys is one on thedevelopment of a feasible plan for the operation of the Export-Import Bank,and one on official regulations regarding imports, customs, etc .

The Chamber advises as to methods to be employed by its members inopening or - broadening their trade relations with the Soviet Union, the AmtorgTrading Corporation and other agencies carrying on foreign trade for theU .S .S .R. It puts members in contact with Soviet officials and trade repre-sentatives in the United States through its New York office and in the SovietUnion through its Moscow office. It translates Russian correspondence forits members and advises them in matters of advertising in Soviet publicationsand concerning the preparation and distribution of their literature or cataloguesin the Soviet Union.

Moscow OfficeSince its establishment in r9z7, the Moscow office of the American-Russian

Chamber of Commerce has been of considerable assistance to American busi-nessmen . This bureau maintains contacts with the various economic andpolitical departments of the Government, such as the Commissariats for ForeignTrade, Foreign Affairs, and Finance, the industrial commissariats, the StateBank, and other Soviet banks, industries and administrations . Arrangementshave been made with these organizations and institutions to receive informationin regard to their activities, especially as they affect Soviet-American tradeand foreign trade in general. This data is sent to the New York office bymail and radio for distribution to members .

Many members of the Chamber find it advisable to send representatives


to the U .S .S .R ., in order to study the situation there at first-hand and topromote the sale and use of their products or for other business reasons. TheChamber's representatives in Moscow assist visiting members and their repre-sentatives to accomplish these objectives during their stay in the U .S .S.R .This includes assistance in making contacts and securing appointments withSoviet trade officials; assistance in the matter of arranging visas ; schedulingof itineraries ; procurement of legal advice, etc .

Members use the Moscow office as a mailing and cable address, communi-cations being forwarded or delivered promptly to the addressee . Interpreting,translation and office service can be arranged through the Moscow office ofthe Chamber .

MembershipThe membership of the American-Russian Chamber of Commerce includes

many leading American firms, and the majority of those who have carriedon a large volume of trade with the U .S .S .R. in recent years . The Boardof Directors of the Chamber extends an invitation to American manufacturers,exporters, importers, and others interested in U.S.S .R. trade to join theChamber and participate in its work and benefits .

Further information may be obtained from the Executive Secretary, z6tFifth Avenue, New York.

NEW AND RECONSTRUCTED TOWNS IN THE USSR(USSR IN EUROPE)

EACH RECTANGLE REPRESENTS 25,000 INHABITANTSGREY-POPULATION IN 1926GREY AND BLACK -POPULATION IN 1932

METAL INDUSTRY ® WORKSY CAR 93 CANNING SAW MILLS

INDUSTRY ©TRACTOR-BUILDING M INDUSTRY CENTRE

QWORKSOTIVE 13 PAPER INDUSTRY Ell MACNNE-BUILDING BOIL INDUSTRY

NEW AND RECONSTRUCTED TOWNS IN THE USSRUSSR IN ASIA) 1s

EACH RECTANGLE REPRESENTS 25,000 INHABITANTSGREY-POPULATION IN 1926GREY AND );LACK -POPULATION IN 1932

C .CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

®BUILAGRIDINGULTURM . MACHINE .

METAL INDUSTRY

SAW MILLS

COAL MINING

®ADMINISTRATIVE CENTRE

Acceptances, trade355Aerial photography266Afghanistan, U.S .S .R. treaty

with26Agreements, collective 437-438Agreements, trade30-34, 360Agricultural Bank (see banks)Agricultural insurance431Agricultural machinery :

imports160, 364output157-158 (table),

159, 165see also machine-building

Agricultural resources41-42Agricultural taxes428-429Agriculture

abolition of privateownership63-64

area under cultivation .. .43-44average yield of crops77capital investments 78, 97-98collectivization74, 214, 222electrification206farms, see farms, collective

and statefive-year plan,

first69-70, 74, 214-215five-year plan, second

97-98, 236-237 (table)general survey212, 214-215grain crops69, 78irrigation103mechanization214output of91status before 191461training workers for227

Airlines95, 264-265Alabaster185Alapaev bauxite deposits148Alagir zinc and lead plant 143Allen and Garcia Co375

INDEX

All-Union Co-operativeBank407

All-Union Council of TradeUnions437

All-Union Institutes :of contagious diseases453of experimental medicine . ..452

All-Union Society for CulturalRelations

with

ForeignCountries (V.O.K.S.)480

Aluminumbauxite, deposits of 55, 147-148development of industry . ..147five-year plan, second85plants80, 100, 147-148

Am-Derutra TransportCorporation349

American-Russian Chamberof Commerce544-546

American-Soviet Trade .. .349-382Amkino Corporation349Ammonia, synthetic169Ammonium phosphate173Ammonium sulphate169Amtorg Trading Corp . .. .288, 349Amur-Yakutsk highway260Angara-Yenisei project203Animals and animal

products40, 370-371Anthracite, see coalApatite deposits57, 174, 282Arcos, Ltd290Arctic, navigation in37-38,

250-257Area, U.S .S.R2-7Art products375Asbestos56, 372Asha (wood distillation

plant)173Asiatic countries, trade

with334-341

549


Austin Co375Austria, U .S .S .R. treaty with. ..26Austria, trade with332-333Automobiles and trucks :

census94diesel-powered261factories162five-year plan,

second79, 85, 98, 165freight carried by260imports163 (table)industry162rural ownership92

Aviationdevelopment of

73-74, 264 (table), 268-269dirigibles, gliders,

stratostats267imports267industry267

Avtodor259Azerbaidzhan Petro'eum

Institute125Azovstal100

Bakal (steel plant)137Bakeries, mechanized189Baku (oil fields)48, 118Balkhash Lake (copper

works)66, 100Ball-bearing works, Moscow 152Baltic-White Sea

Canal80, 94, 253, 258Banks :

abroad411Agricultural

(Selkhozbank)411banking institutions398Bank of Foreign Trade(Vneshtorgbank)411banking system

398-400 (table)branches of State Bank 404Co-operative

(Vsekobank)407, 410deposits in399, 413

industrial (Prombank)400,408-409 (table)

issue department of StateBank405-406

long-term credit407-410municipal (Tsekombank)

407-410 (table)savings411-413State Bank291, 401-406

Barite56Bashkiria (manganese,

paper mills)101, 140Bauxite, see aluminumBeets, sugar69, 231Belgium, trade with332Berezniky (chemical works) . ..172Bibliography534-542Blast furnaces132-135Blooming mills135-136Blyava, copper, gold, silver

deposits146Bobriky (chemical combine) . . .173Bolshoye Zaporozhye281Bonds377-378Bonuses, labor442Books375Borovoye-Akmolinsk railway 246Boyeff, I . V380Brickyards185Brown-Lipe Gear Co164, 375Budd, Ralph247Budgets :

state and local415-416, 419 (table), 421

unified state414-418, 422 (table)

(see also Finance)Building materials184Bullitt, William C23

Cable rates516Canals38, 46, 258Candy factories101Canned goods85Canning industry101, 188

Capital investments71, 80, 279, 407

Car loadings80Cars, passenger153Cardboard181 (table), 182Catering

establishments . ..385, 392-394Caucasus, metal deposits 53, 141Cellulose101, 182Cement185Census of workers69Central Asia-coal and

minerals114, 145Central Executive

Committee9-10, 84Centrosoyus (Central Union of

Consumers' Co-operatives) 287Chalk56, 185Cheliabinsk (tractor

plant)72, 80Chelyuskin expedition38, 257Chemicals175, 373Chemical industry

85, 89, 100, 164, 166, 170Chemical plants80Chiatury manganese deposits 53Chicherin, M20Children, support of458China, U .S .S .R. treaty with 26Chirchik River chemical

plant174Chrome57-58, 371-373Chronicle of events518-533Chuisky highway260Cities3-7, 280, 283Civil registry office456-457Civil War, effects of on

production62Climate39Clinics451-452Coal

anthracite, exports of372basins46-47, 114cutters, output of155five-year plan, second 87, 100

INDEX 55 1

imports111production

85, 69, 100, 113-114resources of45

Coal miners116Coke117-118, 173Collective farms, see Farms,

collectiveCollectivization237Combines85, 92, 165Commercial treaties, (see agree-

ments, trade)Commissariats

addresses of11Heavy Industry109Internal Supply187Light Industry198list of11Public Health448Workers' and Peasants'

Inspection12Commissars, Council of

People's10-13Commission, State Planning . . .11Commissions, Soviet

engineering355Commodity turnover107Communications270, 274-275Communist League of Youth 15Communist Party ofU.S .S .R15, 96, 84

Concessions, terms of 346-347Congress of Soviets9, 67Congressional Investigation

Committee358Constituent republics3-5Consular representatives358Consulates in U .S ., Soviet 26Consumers' goods . ..85, 193, 209Contracts, technical

assistance375-377Contracts, shipping377Cooper, Col. Hugh L . .. .211, 375Co-operative banks, see banksCo-operatives

consumers'287


producers'198see also, Trade, domestic

Copper :deposits

54, 67, 85, 100, 145-146production143-146

Cottonarea and yield214-216collectivization of producing

areas229-230five-year plan, first69five-year plan, second 85, 98imports365production85, 98sown area231 (table)

Copyright laws498Cotton textile mills100Council of Labor and Defense 11Council of Nationalities9Courts, civil and criminal 15-18Credit associations-see financeCredit Reform Act of

1930400-402Credits in United States 351Crop rotation91-92Crops, industrial229-232Crude Drug Corp .

(Lektekhsyrie)288Cultural development (see

education)Cultural re'ations with

foreign countries480Currency :

in circulation397system396-397

Curtiss-Wright Corp375Czechos'ovakia, U .S .S.R .

treaty with27

Day nurseries453Death rate, reduction in 455-456Debt, state425 (table)Denmark, U.S .S.R. treaty

with27Diesel engines, production

of209

Diesel locomotives244Diesel-powered automobiles . . .261Diplomatic notes27, 29Diplomatic relations359Diplomatic representatives 24-25Disarmament20Dispensaries, system of 451-452Divorce, procedure457Dnieper

aluminum works80, 100coke and chemical plant 173industrial combine58,'66power plant38, 202

Domestic trade-see Trade,domestic

Donets coal basin46, 114Donets coke industries118Drought, effect on grains77DuPont de Nemours & Co 375

East Siberia, coal productionin:114

Economic accounting in stateenterprises398

Economic development61-83Economic geography ofU.S .S.R35-37

Economic Policy, New 398-400Economic Review of SovietUnion381-382

Education461-480Educational Workers' Union 438Election of delegates to

Soviets13Electric Auto-LiteCo164, 211, 375

Electric power,consumption79-80, 205

Electrical equipment, importsof208, 210, 299, 361-363

Electrical machinery, productionof208

Electrificationfirst five-year plan69general development

of199-204

in agricu'.ture and transporta-tion206

second five-yearplan85, 99, 221

see also power plantsElectrotechnical industry 207-208Electrozavod210Emba oil field49Engines, freight and

passenger165Engineers, increasing number

of76, 96Estonia, U .S .S .R. treaty with . . .27Excavators, output of155Exhibits345Expeditions37, 257Export corporations286-288Export-Import Bank ofU.S.A359

Exports-see Trade, Foreign

Fairs345Far East, coal production in . . .114Farms, collective :

growth in first five-yearplan70

investments in225livestock234-235membership of223-224statistics221-224taxes224-225tractors on222trade391

Farms, state :area of217five-year plan, first. ..70, 213-214statistics219-220stock-breeding:218-219tractors on218workers employed on 218, 220

Fertilizers169, 313Fi'ms, motion picture _349, 375Finance :

(see also Banks)agricultural banking

system401, 411

INDEX 553

capital investments in stateenterprises71,407credit associations399credit operations .. .355, 400-409currency system396-397debt, state425 (table)financial system, state 414,423financing of state

industry80, 401foreign indebtedness343loans, state404, 424-426national income70-71revenue, state420unified financial plan 420-421

Finland, U .S .S .R. treaty with 27Fish industry85, 191, 308Five-Year Plan, First :

aims and preparationsfor65-66, 68-70

capital investments71fulfillment67, 78

Five-Year Plan, Secondaims and preparation for 66first two years of77-80outline of84

Flax :area and yield214-215development of industry . ..230exports of231 (table)scutchers, production of159

Flax fibre91Flour mills188Food, exports of192Food industry, development

of101, 186-187Foodstuffs, exports of 369-370Ford Motor Co164, 375Foreign policy2, 20-23Foreign trade, see Trade, foreignForeigners, regulations for 483Forests40France, U .S .S .R. treaty with 27France, trade with327-329Freight cars, production

of85, 93-94, 165


Freight (see transportation)Freyn Engineering Co375Fuel69, 111-112Fur auctions307Furs40, 307Fur Syndicate

(Soyuzpushnina)286

Gasoline122Gdov, oil shales at127Geographical sub-divisions1-5Geological exploration58Germany, trade with320-322Germany, U.S .S .R. treaty

with27Gini-State Petroleum

Institute125Giprogor-(city planning

institute)281Glass, see plate glassGold55, 141, 146, 372Goodman Mfg. Co375Gosplan (see State Planning

System)Gosstrakh (state insurance de-

partment)431Government9-19

(see also Commissars, Councilof People's)

Grainexports305production42, 69, 91, 215supplied by collectives228supplied by state farms228yield78, 228

Grain combines159Graphite, resources56-57Great Britain, U .S .S .R. treaty

with28Great Britain, trade with 312-325Grozny oil field118Grozny paraffin plant122Gubkin, I. M52Gum tragacanth371-373

Handicraft375Health

death-rate, reductionin455-456improvement in105-106protection, expenditures

for499 (table)statistics448

Heating, central88Hercules Motor Co164Hides (see Animals and Animal

Products)Hospitals451-452Hotels, list of Intourist501Hours and wages, working

day438-439Housing :

appropriations for416new houses built75second five-year plan106

Hungary, U .S .S .R . treaty with 28Hydroelectric power, develop-ment of169

Hydroelectric stations :Angara-Yenisei project203Dnieproges202five-year plan, first203five-year plan, second169

Ice-breakers37-38, 257Import corporations286-288Imports (see Trade, foreign)Income, national (see also

Finance)70-71Income taxes,

individual429-430Income taxes, personal 422-423Income, workers'74Indebtedness, foreign343Industrial

Bank355, 400, 408-409Industrial commissariats 385, 395Industrial crops229, 232Industrial equipment,

imports of351, 361-363

Industrial machinery,output of154

Industry :growth of71, 79, 109light, development of . . .100, 197new construction97-98second five-year plan 84-85status before 191461

Institutes, industrial and scien-tificaero-hydro-dynamics

267chemical and pharma-ceutical174city planning281contagious diseases453experimental medicine452Karpov174nitrogen174petroleum125veterinary236

Insurance :department, State431social443

Internal affairs12Internal trade, (see Trade, in-

ternal)International General ElectricCo211, 375

Intourist offices502Intourist Travel Bureau350Inventors, Society of437Investments416Irkutsk car plant98Iron

deposits of iron ore136exports of371-373production of

69, 79, 98, 100, 130, 138reserves49-53

Irrigationagricultural103projects229Volga power project44

Italy, trade with325-327Italy, U .S .S .R. treaty with 28

INDEX

Japan, U.S .S .R. treaty with 28Jewelry375Johnson Act359-360

Kahn, Albert, Inc164, 375Kalata copper plant143Kalinin, M23Kara Sea expedition37Karaganda coal114Kashpir, oil sha'e127Kashira (locomotive

plant)98, 153Kazakstan, manganese

deposits140Kellogg Pact20Khalilovo, steel plant137Kharkov

coke works173tractor plant162turbo-generator plant98

Khibini, apatite mines174Kirovsk apatite deposits282Knit goods industry101Kolkhozi (see farms, collective)Koppers Construction Co375Kounrad, copper deposits 282Kramatorsk, (machinery

works)80, 151Krivoy Rog, iron ore mines 100Kulaks74Kusnetz :

car plant98coal production46-47, 114coke industry118development100refractory plants185steel mills133, 137

Labor code433Labor protection446Land, distribution of212Latvia, U.S .S .R. treaty with...28Laws, All-Union and local 16Lead :

deposits54-55industry100, 143-144, 146plants, development of 143-144

555


League of Nations22Leather, exports of371Lektekhsyrie (crude drug

corp .)288Leninsk-Novosibirsk Railway 246Lime, production of185Linens, exports of374Linen industry,

plants85, 101, 103Lipetsk100Lithuania, U .S.S .R . treaty

with28Litke Expedition257Litvinoff, M21, 379-380Livestock :

breeding:.219-220census77depletion74distribution ...233 (table), 234five-year plan, first232five-year plan,

second91, 232, 236Loans, State424Locomotives

Diesel244imports363plants80, 153production85, 93, 165

Lower Volga project203Lugansk, locomotive plant80Lumber, exports

of110, 311, 374-375Lumber

industry85, 178-179, 184

Machine-buildingindustry .. .73, 85, 110, 150, 164

Machine-buildingplants80, 151, 153

Machine-tools,production85-87, 155, 164

Machine-tool Import Corp .(Stankoimport)287

Machine-Tractor stations222Machinery Import Corp .

(Mashinoimport)287

Machinery, imports of 156, 299Magnesite56-57, 371-373Magnesium industry100Magnitogorsk72, 100, 117,

133, 136, 173, 185Manganese, deposits. ..53, 139-140Manganese,

exports140, 310, 371-373Marine insurance432Maritime shipping and

ports254, 256Marriage456-457Mashinoimport (machineryimport corp .)287

Matches110, 375Maternity protection453McKee, Arthur G375Meat packing

plants85, 98, 101, 188Medical care445Medical personnel450Merchant marine92Mercury55, 147Metallurgical industry 138, 164Metals, nonferrous. ..149, 365, 366Metals, rare55-56Metal-working machinery,

imports of361Mica56Michurin, I. V43Mineral fertilizers229, 238Mineral products371-373Minerals45 (table), 56-57Miscellaneous informa-

tion _516-517Molotov automobile plant 162Molybdenum147Moscow114,, 188, 246Moscow ball-bearing works 152Moscow-Donbas

railway80, 94, 246Moscow-Volga canal94, 256Motion picture films349Motor transport259, 262Motorcycles162Mountains35

Municipal construc-tion101, 276, 278

Municipalservices278, (table), 279

Nationalities and races7Natural resources (see Resources)New construction97Newport News Shipbuilding& Dry Dock Co211, 375

Nickel55, 100, 146Nikopol manganese deposits 53Nitrates _ _173Nitrogen Engineering Corp 375Nizhni-Tagil100, 153Netherlands, trade with331Non-aggression pacts21Nonferrous metals

53, 58, 100, 141-149Novocherkassk153

Oglebay, Norton Co375O.G.P.U12Office machines155Oildevelopment of

industry _85, 110drilling operations126Emba oil fields49exports of123, 308five-year plan,

second100, 118-119refineries124, 164

Oil seeds230-231Oil shale48, 127Open-hearth furnaces133Orsk locomotive works153Osoaviakhim268-269

Paints173Palace of Soviets101Paper, imports of181-182Paper industry

101, 110, 183 (table)Paper machinery183Paraffin plant122

INDEX 557

Party Congress15, 97-98Patents and Copyrights494Paving280Peasants on collective

farms223-224Peat47, 128-129Penal system19Pensions444Persia, U .S.S.R. treaty with 28Petroleum, see oilPetroleum geological

research _ 125Petrovsky coke industry117Philatelic Association: ..287Phosphorite57Photo-chemical industry171Photographs349Physical culture454Piece-work system441Pig iron85, 133Pioneers „15Planning system (see State Plan-

ning System)Plastics175Plate glass186Platinum146Plows, tractor-drawn159, 165Plows, wooden64Plywood178Poland, U .S .S .R. treaty with. ..28Poland, trade with333Political sub-divisions1-5Population2-7Population, peasant212Ports255-256, 259Postal regulations516Post offices270Potash56-57, 72Potassium salts56Power plants

development of200 (table), 205

industry (Glavenergo)110machinery209equipment, imports of363


plants

38, 44, 201, 204-207see also electrification

Precious metals371-373Private ownership, abolition

of63Procurements Committee of

Council of People's Commis-sars109

Producers' co-operatives198Producers' goods85Projectors, motion picture 155Prombank (Industrial

Bank)400, 408-409Provisional Government351Public prosecution, department

of17

Rabinovitch, Dr. L., RussianRed Cross rep . in UnitedStates459

Races and nationalities7Radio and Cab'e rates517Radio

broadcasting stations . . .272-275output of sets and tubes155receiving points272telegraph centers273

Radio Corporation ofAmerica375

Rags375Rai:ways

capital investments .. .245, 250development of

69, 73, 80, 104electrification of93equipment165, 250five-year plan,

first69, 73, 243-250five-year plan,second24, 93, 104, 249-250foreign technical aid247freight turnover92Leninsk-NovosibirskRailway246

lines in operation246locomotives93

Moscow-Donbas Railway 246new lines planned 80, 94, 145passenger cars165program of243-244reconstruction

of24, 93, 249-250Troitsk-Orsk Railway246Turkestan-Siberian

Railway54, 58, 246workers248

Raw materials :development of187imports of365-368Soviet purchases

of300, 301-303 (tab'es)second five-year plan187

Rayon industry172Recognition of U .S .S .R. by other

countries22-23Red Cross and Red Crescent

Societies459"Red October" Plant

(Moscow)162Red Putilov works

(Leningrad)165Refractory materials and

plants185Republics, constituent3-5Resol powder175Resources, national :

development of58-59known resources before

191461Restaurants, growth of . . .75, 387Retail trade, development

of107, 385(see also Trade, domestic)

Revenues, republican andState416, 420, 422 (table)

Rivers35-37(see also Waterways)

Road-building95, 250, 260-261, 263

Rolling mills134-136Roofing materials, production

of185

Roosevelt, F. D . (note toKalinin)23

Rosengoltz, A . P ., speech by .. .380R.S .F .S .R. (Russian Socialist

Federated Soviet Repub-lics)416

Rubber tires, output172Rubber-bearing plants43Ruble107Rumania, U .S .S.R. treaty

with29Rural trade395

Safety measures447Sanitary conditions448Savelyevo (Lower Volga

Region)127Sawmills101Schools (see also education) 75Scientific institutes

(see institutes)Seiberling Rubber Co164Selkhozbank

(Agricultural Bank)411Sewage systems106Sewing machines155Ships, Diesel-engine255Ships, foreign, chartered287Shipping251

(table), 252, 254, (table) 346Shipping contracts377Shoes

production of85, 98, 101second five-year plan 85, 101

Siberia, deposits of gold,silver, platinum141

Sibiriakov expedition257Sick, care of449-450Silk mills, deve'opment of 161Silk, raw374Silver, deposits146Skvortsov automatic rig126Slaviansk soda plant173Soap factories101Soap production85

INDEX 559

Social insurance :development of105expenditures442, 443, 446health, care of441-444organizations445-446

South America, tradewith342, 344

Southwestern EngineeringCo375

Soviet-American SecuritiesCorp378

Soviet foreign trade,see Trade, foreign

Soviet Photo Agency349Soviets, All-Union Congress

of9, 67Sovkhozi (see Farms, state)Soyuzpromexport

(All-Union IndustrialExport Corp .)312

Spain, U .S .S.R. treaty with 29Specialists96Sperry Gyroscope Co375Sports, development of454Srednaya Rogatka,

(meat packing plant)188Stalin (Amo) Automobile

works162Stalin, J. V12, 14Stalinabad282Stalingrad tractor plant162Stalinsk (formerly

Kuznetsk)72, 117, 281Stalinogorsk (chemical

works)173Stankoimport (machine-tool

import corp .)287State Bank (see Banks)State Farms, (see Farms, state)State Insurance Department

(Gosstrakh)431State Planning System

(Gosplan)64-65Statistical survey507-515Steam turbines, production

of209

56o HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

Steel :alloys131-132new plants, development

of80, 137production79, 85, 100, 130

Stock-breeding187218-219, 234

Stores386-390Stuart, James & Cooke375Subways, development of 101Sugar :

beets91, 231 (table)industry85, 98, 188-189mills, under con-

struction101, 103Sulphur, resources56Sulphuric acid, output175Sunflowers231Superphosphates173Sverdlovsk72

Tadzhik (Socialist SovietRepublic)2, 3, 6

Taxationagricultural. ..224, 225, 428-429system427

Tea231Technical assistance

contracts210, 375-377Technical bureaus350Telbes (iron ore)137Telegraph and telephone 271, 274Temir-Tau (iron ore)137Territorial sub-divisions1-5Textiles

import corporation288industry, development

of89, 98Textile machinery, output 164Timber :

exports177forests of U .S .S .R40industry101, 176-178see also Lumber

Timken-Detroit Axle Co 164Tin55

Tobacco231Topography of U .S .S .R35Torgsin _378Towns, new282, 283Tractors :

Cheliabinsk plant72, 80imports from U.S.A160Kharkov p'ant162on collective farms74

223-224, 226output of70 (table), 85,

92, 161Red Putilov works165stations, machine 222-223, 237

Trade agreements27-33Trade, domestic :

catering establishments385,387,392-394

collective farm391co-operative385-390development of383-384of industrial commissariats 385rural trade395state385-390

Trade, foreign :agreements27-33'agencies of U .S.S .R .

abroad290American-Soviet trade

relations349-382Asiatic countries334-341Baltic countries330by countries316

(tables) 317-320, 331corporations, list of 287-290

European320-343policies284-286prospects347-348

Scandinavian countries 329-330turnover292 (table), 351,

352 (table), 353United States-Soviet 349, 382(see also individualcountries and products)

Trade, foreign, exports :by commodities304-316

export corporations286-290food192imports301-303lumber311manganese140oil123, 308table of292, 319,

351-353, 359, 369-371Trade, foreign, exportsto U.S.A.by commodities304-316

Trade, foreign, imports :by commodities 296, 299-303by countries317-319, 381import corpbrations 286-288increase in354policies284-286pre-war and present292,

294-295, 305table of292

Trade, internal (see Trade,domestic)

Trade marks497Trade Representationsof U.S.S.R. abroad 289-290

Trade, retail385Trade unions :All-Union Central Council

of433Organization of437

Trading corporationsAmtorg Trading

Corporation288Arcos, Ltd290Yujamtorg290

Transbaikal147Transcaucasia2, 3, 6, 147Transit shipments504Transport machinery154Transportation

appropriations for97, 98development of239,

240 (table), 241electrification of206equipment363facilities improved187

INDEX

561

motor259pre-war239railway73, 104status during World War 62suburban242water94, 104,

250-254, 257Travel Bureau, Intourist350Travelers' checks492Treaties, commercial

(see Trade agreements)Troitsk-Orsk railway246Troyanovsky, A . A23, 380Tsekombank

(Municipal Bank)407-410 (table)

Tungsten126, 147Turbogenerators98, 200Turcoman Republic2, 3, 6Turkestan-Siberian

railway54, 58, 246Turkey, U.S .S .R . treaty with. ..29

trade with334

Ufa98Ufaley nickel plant146Ukrainian Republic 2, 3, 6, 416Unemployment75Unified state budget,

(see budget)Unions, see Trade unionsU. S.-Soviet Trade :

development of350-352doing business with theU.S.S.R381-382

exports to U .S .S .R163,267, 208-210, 299, 361-369

imports from U .S .S .R.177 (table), 180-181, 369-375organizations carrying on

trade349perspectives of378-381reasons for growth and

decline of354-359shipping377Soviet bonds377


technical assistancecontracts375-376

U.S.-U .S .S .R. tradeagreement360

United States, establishmentof diplomatic relationswith U .S .S .R29

Upper Vo'ga project203Ural car plant98Ural-Kuznetz combine66, 72Ural machinery works151Urals114, 140-141Uruguay, U.S .S .R. treaty

with29Usinsky highway260U.S .S .R. Chamber ofCommerce345

U.S .S .R. in world economy 80-83Uzbek Republic2, 3, 6

Varnish1 3.,Vavilov, N. I43Veterinary service236Visa Regulations505Vital Statistics in U .S .S .R 448Vneshtorgbank

(Foreign Trade Bank)

411Voks, All-Union Society for

Cultural Relations480Volga River66Volga-Don Canal94,

258, 254Volga-Moscow Canal253

Volga power project44Voroshilov (coke)117Voskresensk80, 173Voters13, 14Vsekobank (Co-operative

Bank)407, 410

Wages69, 439-440Water power resources38Waterways94, 104,

106, 258, 251Weights and measures517Welding machines155West Siberia140Westvaco Chlorine

Products, Inc375Wheat69

(see also, agriculture, grain)Wheeler, Archer E375White Russian S .S.R2, 3, 6Wood distillation101, 173,

180 (table)Woodpulp182Woolens85Workers, training of. ..95, 434-435Workers, women436World Economic Conference 22

Yaroslavl173Yegorievsk173

ZAGS456Zaporozhye80, 100, 147Zinc55, 100, 143-146

HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION xxi

eningmakeslip.

and

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all

NORTON

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facturefracfories,

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xxu HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

ERIE FOUNDRY CO .ERIE, PENNA., U. S. A.

Forge Shop MachineryHydraulic Presses

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GRINDING MACHINES

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xxiv HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

CHICAGOPNEUMATICTOOL CO.

Manufacturers of

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xxv

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xxvi HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

Acheson Graphite Electrodes are the

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Acheson Graphite Electrodes are made

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HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION xxvii

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xxvui HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

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LINCOLN SPECIALFORGED, MISCELLAN-

UNITED MOLY . CHILL UNITED PLAIN SAND EOUS AND SPECIAL

MILLSBLOOMING UNIVERSAL ROD

SLABBING2, 3 AND 4-HIGH BAR

SHEETPLATE SKELPTIN4-HIGH COLD STRIP MERCHANT

RAIL AND4-HIGH HOT STRIP STRUCTURAL PIPE AND TUBE


Complete Rolling Mill Equipment

AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT

UNITED

HEAVY WELDED STEEL CONSTRUCTIONS

.

ENGINEERING AND FOUNDRY COMPANYPITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

THE WORLD'S LARGEST MAKERS OF ROLLS ANDROLLING MILL EQUIPMENT

FLYING SHEARS LEVER SHEARS ROD REELS

MILL TABLES ROLL LATHES GEAR REDUCTION

PRECISION HOT AND COLD UNITS

LEVELLERS SAWS PORTABLE CROPANNEALING BOXES SHEARSVERTICAL SHEARS

GENERATED GEARSSTEEL CASTINGS UNCOILERS

AND PINIONS HOT BEDSEDGERS

MANIPULATORS TRANSFERS

COLD STRIP REELS BLOOM SHEARSSTRUCTURALSTRAIGHTENERS HOT STRIP REELS SQUARING SHEARS

XXX HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

LOCOMOTIVESBuilders of railroad power

units for nearly 100 years, wehave long been equipped, notonly on the manufacturing butalso on the research and design-ing side, to supply all of thepower needs of our customers,whether they be for steam, elec-tric, or Diesel-electric .

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE SALES COMPANYExport Sales Agents for

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE COMPANYand

MONTREAL LOCOMOTIVE WORKS, Ltd .

30 CHURCH STREET

NEW YORK, N. Y ., U. S . A .


Fast and economical . . . sturdy, simple and easilyhandled . . . popular for years with American railroads

f•

or use under all conditions and all kinds of ballast•

. . give better roadbeds at less expense .

Furnished in 2-tamper, 4-tamper and 8-tamper outfits, withlight, easily portable power plants, these outfits enabletwo, four or eight men to do better work and do it faster .Write for complete information, specifications and prices .

ELECTRIC TAMPER & EQUIPMENT CO .LUDINGTON, MICHIGAN, U . S. A.


BALDWINSteam-Electric-internal Combustion

Locomotives and Parts

Railroad Equipment andEngineering Specialties

GLAENZER POPPET VALVE THROTTLEBALDWIN POWER REVERSE GEAR

"ELFUR" WEARING IRON

WHEELS AND AXLESSPRINGS

TIRES

FORGINGS

CASTINGSHYDRAULIC PRESSESREFRIGERATION EQUIPMENTSHIP PROPELLERSCRANESFLEXIBLE STAYBOLTSELECTRIC HEADLIGHT EQUIPMENT

HYDRAULIC TURBINESDIESEL ENGINES

RAIL MOTOR CARSWELDING MACHINES AND WIRE

COAL & CINDER PLANTSCOUPLERS

CAST STEEL TRUCK SIDE FRAMES & BOLSTERSRAILWAY SHOP MACHINERY

THE BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKSPHILADELPHIA, PA ., U . S. A .


xxxni

SPECIALISTS IN THE DESIGNAND CONSTRUCTION OFINDUSTRIAL PLANTS

For manufacturing industry - particularly the type whichbenefits most from mass production - Austin offers a highlyspecialized service which includes plant layout, design and con-struction . This broad service is available for projects in anycountry or in any location .

The Austin Organization has earned a reputation for obtain-ing a maximum return from a minimum expenditure of capitaland doing it in a short space of time .

Usually dealing direct with the Owner and assuming completeresponsibility from inception to completion - Austin will alsohandle a part of the services required for the project .

Work under way at the present time in the United Statesand Abroad includes projects for the following branches ofmanufacture :

Airplane engine manufacturing

Diesel locomotive assembly and man-Airplane assembly and manufacturing

ufacturing

Airport layout and construction, in-

Railroad shops and facilities

cluding hangars and shops

Chemical and paint manufacturing

Facilities for lighter than air craft

Can Manufacturing

Automobile assembly and manufac-

Paper Manufacturingturing

Food ManufacturingTractor assembly and manufacturing

Oil manufacturing and facilities

With an experience gained in handling the design and con-struction of several thousand plants in the United States and in21 foreign countries, the Austin Organization offers an unusualservice well worth consideration by those interested in manufac-turing facilities of any kind, anywhere .

The Austin CompanyENGINEERS AND . BUILDERS

161 12 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland

19 Rector St., New York

xxxiv HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

BUILT BY

MORGAN

En ineerin » »g

g

H ERE is a Morgan 28" Structural Mill, designed and built completefor one of the leading steel companies . Mill includes three 3-High

Roll Stands and is capable of rolling structural shapes up to 24"I-beams and 8"x8" angles . Mill is driven by a 3200 HP motor havingspeed regulation from 0 to 120 RPM . Equipped with worm-typescrew-downs, hand-operated when installed, it is served by four elec-trically operated traveling tilting tables . Runout Tables, Transfer,Straighteners, Hot Beds and 52" Hot Saws were built complete withthe mill itself. Morgan design-to-production responsibility is evidentin every Morgan job, regardless of size, and no project is too big forMorgan engineering experience .

THE MORGAN ENGINEERING COMPANYNeap York, r r W 424d St. ALLIANCE, OHIO Piu,burgb, 1420 Oliwr Bldg

Alorgarr produnr IncludeBLOOMING MILLS

PLATE MILLSCONTINUOUS MILLSSTkUCTURAL MILLS

CLECTRIC TRAVELING CRANCSCHARGING MALNINt5

INGOT STRIRMNG MACNINCS

1_'r CRANFSSOAKING PIT CRANESSTEAM HAMMERS

STEAM HYDRAULIC P-1-PRCSSES

SPECIAL MACNINCRYP0 .STEEL MILLS

tl E S I G N E R SM A M U F ACT U d E A E

A C T 0 A S

HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION ala XV

I A C K SON DEPENDABLECONCRETE VIBRATORSare furnished in varioussixes and in both internaland external types . Theone shown at work, inthe illustration at the left,is one of the internaltype models . Portablepower plants of varioussixes, for use where elec-tricity is not available,are also furnished .

For better concrete placing or puddling on all sizes andtypes of concrete construction . . . bridges, dams, foun-dations, culverts, pipes and conduits, walls, roads, concreteblocks and other products . Save time. Save cement . Andplace denser, stronger concrete with increased water-tightness and better bond between concrete andreinforcing. Sturdy, simple, trouble-free machines . Writefor complete information.

ELECTRIC TAMPER & EQUIPMENT CO .LUDINGTON, MICHIGAN, U . S. A .


VULCAN IRON WORKSWILKES-BARRE, PA., U . S. A .

Established 1849NEW YORK OFFICE : 50 CHURCH STREET

Designers and BuildersLOCOMOTIVES:

Steam, Duplex and Fireless, Gasoline, Diesel, Gas-Electric,Diesel-Electric, Electric Trolley and Storage Battery.

CEMENT, LIME AND CHEMICAL MACHINERY :Rotary Kilns, Coolers, Dryers, Hydrators, Vertical Kilns, Balland Tube Mills .

MINING MACHINERY :Electric Hoists, Mine Fans, Shaking Screens, Shaking ChuteConveyors, Coal Crushing Machinery, Iron and Steel Cast-ings, Plate Metal Work, Riveted and Welded .

Catalogs Furnished on Request9

CRANEValves and fittings of all known metals,for all pressures and purposes .

Everything for any pipe line .

Plumbing materials of every description .

CRANE EXPORT CORPORATION4730-29th STREET,

LONG ISLAND CITY, N . Y ., U. S. A.Cable Address : CRANEXPOCO, NEW YORK

HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION xxxvii

From

PROBLEM TO PRODUCTAlco Handles The Whole Contract

Alco engineers design, fabricate and

erect in any part of the world complete,

modern, petroleum refining plants or major

items thereof.

Alco designs incorporate the most mod-

ern refinery engineering practice together

with a high degree of flexibility, allowing

ample reserves for varying operating con-

ditions, and with full consideration given

to low capital investment commensurate

with low maintenance and operating costs .

ALCO PRODUCTS INCORPORATFDDIVISION OF AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE COMPANY

220 EAST 42nd STREET

NEW YORK, N. Y ., U . S . A.


CLYDE-WHIRLEYSA rapid, efficient and economical, full revolving steel derrickfor handling materials at industrial plants or constructionwork . Mounted stationary or on trucks .

CLYDE LOGGING MACHINERYLoaders, Skidders and Yarders, Gasoline or steam enginepowered in a wide range of sizes .

CLYDE HOISTS AND DERRICKSSteam, Electric or Gasoline powered hoists in one, two andthree drum sizes . Derricks in all sizes and capacities .

Clyde Catalog giving detailed information on any unitwill be mailed free upon request

CLYDE SALES COMPANY856 EAST 136th STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y ., U . S. A.

Irvington Smelting and Refining WorksIRVINGTON, NEW JERSEY, U. S. A.

BUYERS, SMELTERS AND REFINERS OF ORES,

PRECIPITATES, SWEEPS, BULLION AND MELTED

SLIMES, CONTAINING GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM

MANUFACTURERS OFCOPPER SULPHATE

NEW YORK OFFICE

CHARLES ENGELHARD, 30 CHURCH ST.


HIGH QUALITY

ELECTRICAL INSULATING

PRESSBOARD AND PAPER

TRANSFORMER INSULATIONMade of selected raw materials under close technicalsupervision . Excellent electrical, physical and chemicalproperties for the construction of power and distributiontransformers .

MOTOR SLOT INSULATIONMaximum insulation for minimum thickness . Extremetoughness reduces mechanical and electrical failures-alsopermits elimination of fibre end laminations . Maximumresistance to aging-selected fibres prepared mechanic-ally rather than chemically . Proven quality-successful in-sulation of millions of motors-enclosed refrigerator, frac-tional horse power and larger motors .

.

THE ROGERS PAPER MANUFACTURING CO .MANCHESTER, CONNECTICUT, U . S. A

ESTABLISHED 1832

X1


MOLY11,000,000 ass.

IN 1934That proves what Molybdenum is doing in the world to

make better iron and steel. It means that millions of tons offerrous metals are giving better service-saving money forproducers and users everywhere .

Molybdenum is the iron and steel industry's most versatilealloy. It has solved many practical metallurgical problemsin the past. It will solve many more in the future . No branchof ferrous industry, developed or developing, can afford tooverlook its possibilities.

The supply of Molybdenum is practically unlimited . So itsbenefits as an alloy can be counted on permanently . If youhave problems, our laboratory is at your service to help solvethem. If you need information, our books, "Molybdenum inIron and Steel," are yours for the asking .

CLIMAX MOLYBDENUM COMPANY500 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY, U. S. A.

cLI . l b.den.umy

HANDBOOK Off' THE SOVIET UNION xll

IF 1bIGIITAIRCRAFT ENGINES

.WRIGHT CYCLONEWRIGHT WHIRLWINDCURTISS CONQUEROR

.

Contractors To TheGovernments of the World

WRIGHTAERONAUTICAL CORPORATIONPATERSON

NEW JERSEYA DIVISION OF CURTISS-WRIGHT CORPORATION

Cable Address: Aeroexco

IIANDEOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

Making motor cars startbetter, run better,

stop better

FOR nearly a quarter-century,the name of Bendix has been

foremost in motoring safety, con-venience, and driving ease .

Before Bendix invented the fa-mous Bendix Starter Drive, engineswere cranked by hand .

Before Bendix introduced anddeveloped the 4-wheel brake, highspeedwasverydangerous,hencelow-powered, slow cars were the rule .Today's fast, safe and thoroughly

BEND I X AV IAT I O N

PRODUCT S

reliable car was made possible byBendix engineering foresight .

The world-famous StrombergCarburetor, Bendix Vacuum andAir Power Braking, Bendix Auto-matic Clutch Control and Finger-tip Gear Shifting, all contributeto the efficiency, economy, safetyand comfort of today's motor car .

Genuine Bendix parts for re-placement and renewal, are avail-able at all times .

C O R P O R A T I OCHICAGO, ILLINOIS • SOUTH BEND, INDIANA • NEW YORK, N. Y ., U . S. A.

N


xliii

Making air travelsurer, safer and simpler

BENDIX engineering and pre-cision manufacture make

Bendix Aviation products the mostreliable in the world .That is why Bendix aviation

products are preferred above allothers everywhere .Ignition, carburetion, engine

starting and current generating,navigating, landing and stopping-these important tasks are gener-ally entrusted to Bendix .ScintillaAircraftMagnetos,Strom-

PRODUCTS

berg Aircraft Carburetors, EclipseAviation Engine Starters, Genera-tors, Dynamotors, Landing-gearMotors and Vacuum InstrumentPumps, Pioneer Compasses andNavigating Instruments, BendixAirplane Wheels, Brakes and"Pneudraulic" Shock Struts, Ben-dix H-T Aircraft Spark Plugs-every one of these famous Bendixunits stands at the very top in rep-utation among military and civilianairmen of all nations .

B E N D I X AVIATION CORPORATIONCHICAGO, ILLINOIS • SOUTH BEND, INDIANA • NEW YORK, N . Y ., U . S . A .


World's Leading Manufacturers of QualityTrucks and Busses To Meet Every

Transportation Need

INDIANATrucks and Busses, built by White, are out-

standing in the low price field

The complete lines of White and IndianaTrucks and Busses include :

Light Duty TrucksMedium Duty TrucksHeavy Duty TrucksDiesel Engine IndianasHighway Coaches

Truck-Tractors

12-Cylinder "UnderslungPower" Whites

All-Wheel Drive I ndianasSchool BussesCity Coaches

of all Capacities

The White Motor CompanyCleveland, Ohio, U. S. A.

Cables : Whitco

HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION ,dv

0- c, f,For more than thirty years o.c.i has been engaged inthe manufacture and sale of railway passenger and freightcars of all types for domestic and foreign service ; tankcars ; subway cars ; mine cars ; cars, trucks and trailers forindustrial and construction purposes ; miscellaneous carparts .Other a. c . f- products include : buses ; carburetors ;motor cruisers; electric rivet heaters ; architectural wood-work; lubricated plug type valves .

American Car and Foundry CompanyNew York

Chicago

St. LouisCleveland

San Francisco

Q,C,C

DISTRIBUTING TERMINALSAT

POUGHKEEPSIE, N . Y .PROVIDENCE, R. I .

SLIGHT

ISTRONG

Excellent ForDRY

MERCHANTABLESPRUCELUMBER

When You Want ItAs You Want It

CAMDEN, N. J .

TRUCKLOADLESS CARLOADCAR LOADTRAIN LOADBOAT LOAD

CRATINGBOXINGCONSTRUCTION

A. C. DUTTON LUMBER CORPORATIONPOUGHKEEPSIE, N . Y., U . S. A .

xlvi


ELECTRICAL MEASURING INSTRUMENTS, TELEMETERS,AUTOMATIC CONTROLS & HEAT-TREATING FURNACES

FORLABORATORY, POWER PLANT AND PRODUCTION

Micromax Strip-Chart RecorderModel S

INSTRUMENTS FOR RESEARCH,TEACHING AND TESTING

Standards ; Galvanometers andDynamometers ; Bridges ; Potentio-meters ; Test Sets and Equipments ;Synchronous Apparatus ; Photo-metric Apparatus .

INSTRUMENTS FOR PLANTMEASUREMENTS AND CONTROL

Indicators ; Recorders ; ControllersFor :Boiler Water Concentration ; Com-bustion Control ; Conductivity(Electrolytic) ; Current ; Fre-quency (Commercial) ; FurnacePressure ; Gas Analysis ; Humid-ity ; Liquid Level ; Load (Elec-trical) ; pH ; Per Cent Leakage ;Pressure ; Radiation ; SmokeDensity ; Speed ; Temperature ;Voltage.Automatic Control EquipmentsTelemetering Equipments

ELECTRIC HEAT-TREATINGFURNACESHump Hardening with VapocarbAtmosphere ; Homo Temperingand Annealing ; Homo Nitriding ;Ho-Hump Multi-Purpose Furnace .

T-393

Micromax Round-Chart RecorderModel R

Equipment for Triple-ControlHump Hardening with Vapocarb

Atmosphere

LEEDS & NORTHRUP COMPANY4944 STENTON AVENUE, PHILADELPHIA, PA., U . S . A.

Cable Address : "LEEDSNORTH"

HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION xlvii

CLETRAC CRAWLERTRACTORS

Manufactured in Following Sizes :

Models E-EN 20-25-35-55-80 Equipped with gas engines .Models 40-80 Equipped with Diesel engines .

A Complete Line of Equipment :

COMPRESSORS

WINCHESWELDERS

BULLDOZERSSNOW PLOWS

FRONT END LOADERSROAD BUILDING EQUIPMENT

CRANESPUMPS

BROOMSPOST HOLE DIGGERS

THE CLEVELAND TRACTOR COMPANYExport Department

CLEVELAND, OHIO, U . S . A.

Cable Address : Cletrac


Hydro-ShiftBullard Hydro-Shift Vertical TurretLathes afford Four Head concentra-tion with attendant Saving of Timeresulting in Better Profits.

THE BULLARD COMPANYBRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, U .S .A .

Bullard High Speed VerticalTurret Lathes for those fasterJobs . Designed for the use ofhigher speed cutting tools .

High Speed V. T. L.

THE OILGEAR COMPANY1403 W . BRUCE STREET,

MILWAUKEE, WIS ., U. S. A.

Hydraulic Broaching MachinesVariable Speed Drives

Fluid Power Feeds for Machine Tools

Hydraulic PressesPrinting Press Drives


FELLOWSMakes:

A complete line of Gear Cutting,Finishing, and Testing Equipment,

INCLUDING :

Four distinct types of GEAR SHAPERS ; a complete line of GEAR SHAPER

CUTTERS; two types of THREAD GENERATORS ; HOURGLASS GEAR

SHAPERS ; CUTTER SHARPENING MACHINES ; GEAR MEASURING and

TESTING MACHINES; GEAR and WORM LAPPING MACHINES ; BURNISH-

ING MACHINE; BURNISHING GEARS ; MASTER GEARS ; and TOOLS; etc.

For descriptive literature write :

THE FELLOWS GEAR SHAPER COMPANY78 RIVER STREET

SPRINGFIELD, VERMONT, U . S. A.

THE DEXTER LINEPress and Folder Feeders

Dexter Suction Pile and CrossContinuous Feeders for all typesof sheet fed cylinder presses, andfolding machines .

Dexter FoldersDexter Jobbing, Double Sixteen,and Quadruple Folding machinesfor job, magazine and bookwork .

Cleveland FoldersModel "K" - 37 x 64"Model "M"-26 x 58"Model Double "0" - 22 x 27"Model "0" - 19 x 25"Model "W" - 14 x 20"

Stitching, Perforating andPunching Machines

Boston Single Head and MultipleHead Book Stitchers. Lathamlines of Perforating and Punch-ing machines .

Ask for literature on any of these machines .

DEXTER FOLDER COMPANY28 WEST 23rd STREET

NEW YORK, N. Y .


Thousands of U.S.S.R.Airplanes and MotorVehicles are Equipped

with

RICH VALVESFor 24 consecutive years, motor manufac-

turers in all parts of the world have preferredRich Valves for all types of internal combus-tion engines - for airplanes, automobiles,trucks, tractors, tanks, submarines, motorboats, motorcycles, and Diesel locomotives .Likewise, in the U.S.S.R., Rich Valves havecontributed to the efficiency of thousands ofairplanes and motor vehicles built or pur-chased by the Soviet Union .

Wilcox-Rich Corporation also manufacturesa complete line of Valve Seat Inserts.

0

WILCOX-RICH CORP.DETROIT, MICHIGAN, U . S. A .

Subsidiary of EATON MANUFACTURING CO .


World's Largest Selling Line ofPORTABLEELECTRICTOOLS

PORTABLE DRILLSTHE BLACK & DECKER LINE in-cludes the following electric tools foruse on standard A.C. or D .C. current

Drills (16 models)Drill StandsScrew Drivers (3 sizes)Nut Runners (2 models)TappersHammers (3 sizes)Saws (3 sizes)Portable Grinders (3 sizes)Bench Grinders (6 models)Sanders (4 sizes)PlanersPolishers (2 models)Heat GunsValve Refacers (4 models)Valve Seat GrindersA full line of accessories for all tools

Also the following High Cycle Tools :Portable Drills (8 models)Reamers (3 models)Screw Drivers (5 models)TappersNut Runners (8 models)Stud Setters (2 models)Portable Grinders (3 models)Die Grinders (2 models)Sanders (4 models)PolishersA full line of accessories

For technical information and literature,write to our resident representative,Myron G. Doll, Staropimenovsky Pereou-lock 7B, Apartment 26, Moscow, U .S.S.R .

BENCH GRINDERS

VALVE REFACERS

PORTABLE GRINDERS

TOWSON, MARYLAND, U . S. A.

Ii

Iii HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

De V%bissSpray-Painting Equipment

Exhaust EquipmentAir Compressors

AtomizersHose

Are Known and Used Throughout the World

THE DEVILBISS COMPANYTOLEDO OHIO, U. S. A .

MODERNPRODUCTION STANDARDS

Require-PRECISIONDial IndicatorsEnglish and MEASURINGMetric INSTRUMENTSGraduations

Guages o f alltypes forcheckingstandarddimensions

1!EDERAL

The rapid industrial advance in Americahas been possible because of the greatimprovement in producing machine partsto accurate sizes . More FEDERAL indica-tors are used than all others in American

shops to maintain this accuracy.

for Information write to

PRODUCTS CORPProvidence, R. I ., U . S. A.


NICHROME* CHROMAX* NICHROME* VWIRE-STRIP-SHEET-CASTINGS

FOR

ELECTRICAL-CHEMICAL-RADIO-MECHANICAL USES'Trade Hark U . S. Pat . Office .

DRIVER-HARRIS COMPANYHARRISON, N . J ., U . S . A .

MORRISTOWN, N . J ., U . S . A.Chicago - Detroit

England - FranceCleveland

ItalyU. S. A.

ZZR E D

H A R D N E S S

MILFORD REZISTORREZISTOR, the modern blade, made of specialanalysis red hardness steel, cuts metal at a speedthat burns out ordinary blades . REZISTORS arecheaper than tungsten high speed blades, andincrease production and lower costs. Made in handframe and power sizes. Send for price list anddescriptive literature .

THE HENRY G. THOMPSON S, SON CO.277 CHAPEL ST.

NEW HAVEN, CONN ., U . S . A .

liv HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

NATCOSelf-ContainedHydraulicUnitsfor Drillingand boring-singleand multiple spindle

Above is one of the NEW NATCO Self-contained Hydraulic DrillingUnits. They are compact, completely self-contained and no connections otherthan electrical are required . These units are built in various sizes-can bearranged in groups to drill all the holes in a piece, as perfect operation ishad regardless of their working positions . Interchangeability of drill heads onvarious units-also interchangeability of units on any machine base had beenprovided .

Write for complete details of these NEW units .

THE NATIONAL AUTOMATIC TOOL COMPANYRICHMOND, INDIANA, U . S. A .

IDEALOIL FIELD EQUIPMENT

FOR EVERY PURPOSE

DRILLING MACHINERY OFROTARY AND PERCUSSION SYSTEMS .

DRILL PIPE, TOOL JOINTS, CASING, STILL TUBES .PUMPING EQUIPMENT

GEARS, SUCKER RODS, POWERS .DIESEL, STEAM AND GAS ENGINES .

NATIONAL SUPPLY CORP .30 Rockefeller Plaza,

Finsbury Circus & South Place,New York City, U. S. A.

London, E. C. 2


Iv

ARMCO IRON AND STEEL\

a~,1 10

VHOT ROLLED SHEETS-Armco Hot Rolled Sheets ineither rust-resisting INGOT IRON or steel . Both gradesductile and weldable with good surface .HOT ROLLED ANNEALED SHEETS-This grade hasgood surface and working qualities . Available in eitherINGOT IRON or steel in 17 gage and lighter . All com-mercial sheet sizes.HOT ROLLED STRIP-Supplied in both steel andINGOT IRON in coils as well as cut lengths . Surface cleanand smooth . Working qualities unsurpassed .COLD ROLLED SHEETS-Analysis, temper and surfaceof Armco Cold-Rolled sheets are carfeully adapted to in-dividual requirements. Supplied in widest range of sizesand gages .COLD ROLLED STRIP-Armco Cold Rolled Strip pos-sesses correct analysis, right temper for low-cost fabrication,and remarkably fine surface .LONG TERNE SHEETS-Especially well suited for pro-ducts or parts to be joined by soldering or welding . Madein tempers to meet particular requirements .GALVANIZED SHEETS-Noted for rust resistance andworkability. Supplied with INGOT IRON or Steel Base .ELECTRICAL SHEET STEEL-Highest-quality sheets invarious grades for transformers, motors, etc. Consist-ently high magnetic efficiency and desirable flatness forefficient stacking. Also supplied with TRAN-COR finish,having smooth, scale free surface.ARMCO ENAMELING IRON-"The World's StandardEnameling Iron"-an improved highly-refined iron witha scientifically processed surface . Special grades for flatwork, deep drawing, extra deep drawing, and for spinningblanks .ARMCO STAINLESS STEELS-Armco 18-8 and Armco17 (chrome)-in sheets, strip and plates . Resistant to cor-rosion ; excel'ent drawing properties ; sanitary, attractive,easy to clean and keep clean. A correct finish for everypurpose.

ARMCO INTERNATIONAL CORP.MIDDLETOWN, OHIO. U . S . A .

ARMCO G. m . b. H. ARMCO S. A.

ARMCO LimitedHochhaus Hansaring 6 Ave . Gourgaud Thames House, Millbank

Cologne

Paris 17e

London, S. W. 1

lvi HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

SOVIET BOOKS AND PERIODICALS41

NEW AND RARE BOOKSNEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES

MUSIC BOOKS ART PUBLICATIONSREPRODUCTIONS OF FAMOUS PAINTINGS

ALBUMS MAPS POSTERS POSTCARDS

TEXTBOOKS AND DICTIONARIESFor The Study of The Russian Language

Literature on every Phase of the new Soviet Life .

BOOKS

PERIODICALS

Belles Lettres LiterarySocial-Economics PoliticalScientific ScientificHistory Fine ArtsIllustrated Children's

Technicaland many other interesting subjects

in the Russian, English, German, French, Ukrainian, Polishand other languages

BOOKNIGA CORPORATION255 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

SOLE DISTRIBUTORS FOR NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICAof

BOOKS AND PERIODICALSPublished in the

UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICSSend For Catalogues


UNION OF

Soviet Socialist Republics

7 % Gold Bonds

Principal and interest payments are basedupon a fixed quantity of gold and are payablein American currency at the prevailing rate ofexchange . . . . Interest coupons are paid quar-terly at the Chase National Bank of New Yorkon January 1st, April 1st, July 1st, October 1st .

Full informationregarding thesebonds may beobtained from

Soviet American Securities Corp.30 Broad Street • New York

'viii HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

We Specialize in BuildingHIGHEST QUALITY MACHINES

Hundreds of Our "AMERICAN" LATHES, SHAPERS andRADIAL DRILLS are today giving satisfactory service in the

Modern Shops of the U .S .S.R .

The AMERICAN TOOL WORKS CO .CINCINNATI, OHIO, U. S. A .

GISHOLT TURRET LATHES, the SIMPLIMATIC (a semi-automaticchucking lathe), D Y N A M I C and S T A T I C BALANCINGMACHINES for balancing rotative parts, and the GISHOLTTOOL GRINDER for lathe and planer tools have served manu-facturing institutions in all parts of the industrial world for nearlyhalf a century .

For speed and accuracy, these machines, in many types and sizes,are producing the greatest manufacturing economy possible forquantity for small lot production .

GISHOLT MACHINE COMPANYMADISON, WISCONSIN

HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION lix

WHITMAN & BARNESIncorporated

DETROIT, MICHIGAN, U. S. A .

Hercules and Blue Diamond Twist DrillsHercules Reamers and Milling CuttersHercules Interchangeable Punches

Export Sales Department27 WARREN STREET, NEW YORK CITY

FACTORIESDetroit, Michigan, U. S. A .

Latrobe, Pennsylvania, U. S. A .Walkerville, Ontario, Canada .

Find out for yourself why SAFETY has such a long recordof achievement in the industry .Send us your specifications of operating details and grind-ing requirements. We will submit full information regard-ing recommendations .A complete line of grinding machinery is also part ofour product .

The Safety Grinding Wheel & Machine Co .2468 Larch Street,

Springfield, Ohio, U. S. A.

ix HANDBOOK OF THE SOVIET UNION

American Smelting andRefining Company

NON-FERROUS

METALS

120 BROADWAYNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK


1xi

Auto-Life builds dependabilityinto more than 100 automotive products

Some of the more important products built by The Electric Auto-Life Company and its associates are : starting, lighting and igni-tion systems, batteries, lamps, horns, ignition coils, automobileheaters, complete instrument panels, indicators and gauges, hubcaps. Communicate with The Electric Auto-Lice Company, Toledo,Ohio, U . S. A. Cable address : Autolite Toledo.

~JJlnrlinq . Lig/eling .

ilion

THE TOLEDO MACHINE AND TOOL CO .TOLEDO, OHIO, U. S. A.

Engineers, Founders and Machinists onEquipment for Sheet Metal Products

IncludingPOWER PRESSES

HYDRAULIC PRESSESDIES

ROLLING MILLSDIE CUSHIONS

SHEARSDOUBLE SEAMERS

AUTOMATIC FEEDSCAN MAKING MACHINERY SPECIAL MACHINERY

HIGH PRODUCTION AUTOMATIC PRESSES


ADVERTISETHROUGH

technical and trade publications issuedin the Soviet Union.

THROUGH

"American Engineering and Industry,"a technical monthly in Russian, publishedin New York by the Publishing Division ofThe Amforg Trading Corporation, anddistributed in the Soviet Union .

THROUGH

Catalog of American Industry and Trade,published by the Amtorg Trading Cor-poration. A standard reference volumeand buyers' guide for the Soviet Union .Fourth Edition - now in preparation .1000 pages.

0For particulars apply to

INREKLAMA SERVICEc/ o Amtorg Trading Corporation

261 Fifth Avenue

New York, N . Y.


RAILWAYSPECIALTIES

Cast Steel Truck SideFrames

Cast Steel Truck BolstersAutomatic Railway CarCouplers

Janney Cast Steel VerticalKey Yokes

Peerless Draft GearsSimplex Coupler PocketsDavis Steel WheelsA.S.F. Roller Bearing UnitsSimplex Unit CylinderClasp Brakes

Coil and Elliptic SpringsSimplex Snubbers

LVAI~I :

CHICAGO, U.S.A .

INDEX OF ADVERTISERS

Acheson Graphite Corp xxviAlco Products, Inc xxxviiAmerican Car and Foundry Co x1vAmerican Express Co iiAmerican Locomotive Sales Co xxxAmeircan-Russian Chamber of CommerceAmerican Scantic Line ivAmerican Smelting and Refining Co lxAmerican Steel Foundries IxiiiAmerican Tool Works Co ., The lviiiAmtorg Trading Corp viAnderson, C'ayton & Co .Armco International Corp lvAustin Co., The xxxiii

Bache & Co., J . S xvBaldwin Locomotive Works, The xxxiiBendix Aviation Corp xlii and xliiiElectric Auto Light Co., The IxiBlack and Decker IiBookniga Corp lviBryant Chucking Grinder Co xxiiiiBullard Co., The xlvttt

Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co xxivCleveland Tractor Co ., The xlviiClimax Molybdenum Co xlClyde Sales Co xxxviiiCrane Export Corp xxxvi

DeVilbiss Co., The liiDexter Folder Co xlixDowning & Co ., Inc ., R. F xviiDriver-Harris Co liiiDutton Lumber Corp ., A . C xlv

Edison, Inc ., Thos. A xixElectric Auto-Lite Co ., The lxiElectric Tamper & Equipment Coxxxi and xxxvErie Foundry Co xxii

Federal Products Corp liiFellows Gear Shaper Co., The x1ixFood Machinery Corp xviii

Gisholt Machine Co lviiiGoodrich, B. F . Co xx

Inreklama Service xii-lxiiInternational Business Machines CorpxviIntourist, Inc iIrvington Smelting and Refining Works"xxxvui

Leeds & Northrup Go xlviLiterary Digest, The vii

Manufacturers Trust Co xiiMorgan Engineering Co ., The xxxiv

National Automatic Tool Co ., The livNational Supply Corp livNewport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock CoxxviiNorton Company xxi

Oilgear Co ., The xlviiiOpen Road, The iiiOsborn Mfg. Co., The xxv

R. C. A. Communications, Inc viiiRemington Rand, Inc xRogers Paper Mfg. Co., The xxxix

Safety Grinding Wheel & Machine Co ., ThelixSoviet American Securities Corpix-lviiSperry Gyroscope Co ., Inc xivSullivan Machinery Co xxiii

Thompson & Son Co ., Henry G., TheliiiToledo Machine and Tool Co., The lxi

Underwood Elliott Fisher Co xiUnion Tours, Inc vUnited Engineering and Foundry Co..xxviii-xxixUnited States Lines xiii

Vulcan Iron Works xxxviI

Waldorf-Astoria, The iiiWhite Motor Co ., The xlivWhitman & Barnes lixWilcox-Rich Corp 1World Tourists, Inc vWright Aeronautical Corp x1i

Handbook of the_soviet_union-american_russian_chamber_of_commerce-1935-636pgs-sov-pol_eco

Education

Transcript of Handbook of the_soviet_union-american_russian_chamber_of_commerce-1935-636pgs-sov-pol_eco